Lakeview Cemetery Property and 602 North Avenue, photographs by Louis McAllister,1931 and 1938

GPS reading: 18T 0640743, UTM 4928255

These views of North Avenue were taken from the middle of the road looking north toward Institution Road. The north end of Lakeview Cemetery is on the left. In the first image a house can be seen in the distance on the right. In the second image a second building is also visible on the right.

Lakeview Cemetery was originally dedicated in 1871, but was extended in 1922 when 16 acres of additional land was acquired at the north end of the property.[1] The section of the cemetery visible in these photographs is the eastern boundary of that extension. The first photograph, taken in 1931 shows a very run-down board fence, probably remaining from when the property was a farm field. In the second photograph, taken in 1938, the board fence has been replaced by extending the iron fencing that defines the cemetery property south of this point.

The house visible in the distance in both photographs is probably 602 North Avenue. When the first photograph was taken in 1931, an Andrew Liberty, Jr. lived at that address. He appears in the city directory for that year as a “caretaker.” The building that only appears in the 1938 photograph may have been a storage shed used by the Department of Parks, but the address has not been determined.[2]

[1] David J. Blow, A Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, vol. 1, (Burlington, VT: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1991), 15.

[2] Burlington City Directory, 1938.

Lakeview Cemetery Property and 602 North Avenue, photograph by T. N. Martin, 2005

GPS reading: 18T 0640743, UTM 4928255

The contemporary image is certainly recognizable, although trees have grown up considerably on both sides of the road since the McAllister photographs were taken. The iron fence along the edge of the cemetery property remains unchanged, the sidewalks look much the same, even the power poles are not appreciably different. A streetlight, however, has made an appearance in the contemporary view and the two buildings that appeared in the McAllister photographs are both gone.