Sedgwick Pie

The "Sedgwick Pie" is one of the more unusual family cemetery plots in the United States. It is the family burial plot of the Sedgwick family in Stockbridge Cemetery, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and gets its nickname from its shape and layout.

The burial sites are arranged around the graves of Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813), patriarch of the very prominent Sedgwick family of New England and a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (among other positions), and his wife, Pamela Dwight Sedgwick (1753-1807). The graves of the others, who include in-laws, servants, and family pets, form concentric circles around the center, with the buried grouped by familial affiliation, and laid to rest with their feet toward the center. This contrasts with the orientation of the other graves in the cemetery, which (in classic fashion) face east, toward the rising sun, Jerusalem (with all its significance), and the hoped-for Resurrection. It has been said that this arrangement of the graves sees to it that on the Judgment Day, when the dead are raised, the Sedgwicks will only have to look at other Sedgwicks.

"The Pie" has become something of an attraction for those interested in unusual cemetery plots, grave tours, and the like ["e.g.", Eric Goldscheider, "Stockbridge Stoutly Savors Being Small", "The Boston Globe", November 6, 2005] . It has also been called "the laughing stock of the entire Eastern seaboard." [Jean Stein and George Plimpton, "Edie: American Girl" (Knopf, 1982), chap. 1]

Occupants

Notable persons buried in the Pie include:

Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813)

Mum Bett (Elizabeth Freeman) (c.1742-1829)

Catharine Sedgwick (1789–1867)

Henry Dwight Sedgwick (1861–1957)

Ellery Sedgwick (1872–1960)

A key to the graves and their occupants may be found at http://www.sedgwick.org/na/library/cemetery/ma.berkshire.stockbridge/SedgwickStockbridgePlot.html

Cultural References

The Pie is the first topic of discussion in "Edie: American Girl", by Jean Stein and George Plimpton (Knopf, 1982). The book is a discussion of the life and career of Edie Sedgwick who, although a member of the family, is not buried there.

Notes

Bibliography

Eric Goldscheider, "Stockbridge Stoutly Savors Being Small", "The Boston Globe", November 6, 2005.

John Sedgwick, "In My Blood: Six Generations of Madness and Desire in an American Family" (HarperCollins, 2007).

Jean Stein and George Plimpton, "Edie: American Girl" (Knopf, 1982).

Linda Wertheimer, The Sedgwicks: A History of 'Madness', Weekend Edition Saturday, January 6, 2007.

[http://www.sedgwick.org/na/library/cemetery/ma.berkshire.stockbridge/SedgwickStockbridgePlot.html Sedgwick Pie - Listing of Graves]