To spot the Gideon Putnam Burying Ground, look for a patch of green lawn dotted with old headstones, and a big rectangular stone wall with striking white obelisks poking up from inside-right across from the houses along South Franklin Street.
Welcome to one of the oldest, most storied corners of Saratoga Springs-the Gideon Putnam Burying Ground. Take in that sight: a gentle hill, old marble and granite headstones scattered in no particular order, and right at the center, a stone-walled family plot crowned with tall white obelisks, looking as regal as a band of marble chess pieces waiting for their next move. Over 150 souls rest here, each one with a story, but let’s talk about the man who started it all-Gideon Putnam. He wasn’t just any local. Picture Saratoga Springs in the late 1700s: wild, wooded, and full of possibility. Gideon was a risk-taker with an eye for opportunity. He built the first resort hotel here, Putnam’s Tavern, and it was such a hit that even the springs themselves seemed to throw a party. He saw a future city where others saw only trees, and laid out a neat grid plan that would shape the town’s future.
Now, this very acre was meant to be a public resting place for all, a kind of peace treaty between the living and the departed. But fate, as always, had other plans: Gideon had a fatal run-in with gravity, falling from scaffolding while building another grand hotel. He was buried here in 1812, making him not just the founder of Saratoga Springs but its first permanent resident-eternally. His family plot, enclosed in that imposing fieldstone wall with a classic iron gate, is all that’s left of the Putnam legacy in town, marked by those proud obelisks.
Here’s where the plot thickens-since plans for a larger cemetery fizzled, the Putnam family kept the privilege of burying neighbors here, but let’s just say the waiting list wasn’t getting shorter. In the 1800s, the area bustled with more burials as the town grew, but by mid-century people were lured to a newer, shinier cemetery nearby. The ground was left lonely, and with each year, weeds crept up, stones toppled, and the stories got lost. There was even a time when most of these markers vanished under brambles and time’s mischief; by the 1920s, hardly anyone could read the inscriptions anymore! But in the 1980s, the burying ground received a much-needed makeover, recovering its dignity and rescuing 161 graves for memory.
Today, the Gideon Putnam Burying Ground stands right on the edge of a cozy neighborhood-a peaceful slice of history sandwiched between houses and modern life, reminding us that, in Saratoga Springs, you can change the world and still end up just across from Oak Street. And hey, maybe the real secret to a long life is not falling off scaffolding!
