Union Cemetery

Union Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Woodside Road (CA 84) near El Camino Real in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California. The cemetery was named a California Historical Landmark #816 in 1967, then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.HistoryFounded in 1859, this is the site of the first burial ground in San Mateo County, which was originally located just outside the town limits for Redwood City. The cemetery officially closed in 1918, but it was used for many years after that for burial for the poor. There are special cemetery plots for the Masonic Order, members of the International Order of Odd Fellows and the California volunteers who fought during the Civil War.Soldier statueThe life sized metal sculpture of a civil war veteran was erected during the 1889 for a Memorial Day celebration, the earliest celebration on the Peninsula. The statue was paid for by Jane Lathrop Stanford. It has been vandalized in 1958, 1959 and 1969, but subsequently repaired and in 1999 it was replaced with a replica constructed with more durable material.