In 1807, just 5 years after the Inhabitants of the First Parish of West Springfield had purchased the 7-acre lot on “Clay Hill”, now known as White Church Hill, the parish voted to set aside that part of the land, northeast of the new Meeting-House, for a “burying ground”. Dubbed Meeting-House Hill or Mount Orthodox Burying Ground, this cemetery was the first one in West Springfield to have been established in connection with a church.
In modern times the hill has always been covered with trees and bushes which block the view of the Connecticut River and the surrounding area. In 1807 however, as specified in Benjamin Stebbins’ deed to the Inhabitants of the First Parish, there would be “at most 12 shade trees and a young orchard” standing on the 7-acre lot. Presumably, Stebbins reserved the rights to any other trees on the site, probably for use as firewood.
Stebbins’ removal of the remaining trees and brush, on the top of the hill, resulted in a spectacular view of the Connecticut River Valley below. This, in turn, led to the “Mount Orthodox Church”, becoming one of the most photographed sites in the valley.
Many of West Springfield’s earliest families are represented among the burial sites here. The first burial in the cemetery was that of Mrs. Elenor Ashley, consort of Mr. Joseph Ashley. She died in 1808 at the age of eighty-six. There is also a brownstone monument erected in memory of the 27 members of Company I, 10th Massachusetts Regiment, who died of wounds or disease during the Civil War and a headstone for Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant Edwin Leonard.