Fair View Cemetery

Welcome to Little Falls’ Fair View Cemetery, located north of town.

The land was purchased by the Village of Little falls on June 14^th, 1859, as a “New Burying Ground,” and officially opened as “Fairview Cemetery” in 1898. Although the land has been used as a contemporary burial ground, it is predominately known as a Civil War-era cemetery.

Herkimer County, and the Village of Little Falls, were quick to take up the cause and rally for the Union. On April 18^th, 1861, six days after the battle at Fort Sumter that catalyzed the Civil War, the Herkimer County Journal published the following ad: 

“it is proposed to initiate proceedings to organize a military company in Little Falls. The citizens are alive to the demands of the country upon them for defense of the government from the hands of Rebels and Traitors.”

From Herkimer County, approximately four hundred and forty-four men died during the Civil War, most from direct action and others from sickness and disease. Only few of the bodies made it to this cemetery, as embalming methods in the 1860s were primitive at best, and railroad companies often refused to transport bodies in an advanced state of decomposition.

Unlike other Civil War cemeteries across the United States, many of the veterans buried at Fair View died many years after the conflict, and some several years into the turn of the century.

According to records of the cemetery, the grounds became a common place for burials around the 1900s. 

A few of the men buried in Fair View are noted in Little Falls’ historic newspapers and records. Noted in a Herkimer newspaper, Delos Doxtater of Van Hornesville, committed suicide at the age of 55, reportedly due to financial troubles, and was interred in Fair View. 

John B. Smith, a Fairfield farmer, died in 1930. He enlisted in the 97^th New York infantry “for service in the Civil War,” and participated in “the battles of Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thorofare Gap, and the Second Bull Run.” 

As you explore Fair View, note the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, whose inscription reads: “UNKNOWN, Killed by a fall from the cars, passing through LITTLE FALLS. 1862.” Nothing is known about this man who fell off the train and whose body was never claimed by anyone. 

Look out for a memorial statue, unveiled in 1924, reading “That these dead shall not have died in vain.” 

Fair View is also home to the grave of Zaida Zoller, an influential suffragette from Little Falls. Through the early 1900s, Zoller held women’s suffrage meetings at her home on Garden Street and hosted important figures like Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw at her home. Zaida Zoller’s influence on the suffrage history of Little Falls is an important part of New York’s overall involvement in the rally for women’s voting rights. Zoller became the president of the Little Falls League of Women Voters after the passage of the 19^th amendment. Zoller died on January 22^nd, 1980, at the age of 97. Her grave can be found by a shrouded grove, and features a great obelisk, reaching high into the canopy, and a classical monument of a woman in robes, depicted as deep in thought. 

Be sure to look for these graves, and more, as you walk through the grounds. Fair View has 47 registered and 2 unknown Civil War veterans.