St. Paul's German Reformed (Cardiff)

This cemetery began as the final resting place of congregants of St. Paul’s Fifth German Reformed Church, located on Broadway.  The first church was situated on Bank Street.   The church was seriously damaged by fire on November 8, 1866 and rebuilt on March 17, 1867. 

The cemetery is located at the end of Cardiff Avenue...it dead ends into the cemetery.  There are no gates, no signs, no fences.  It is still an active cemetery, now named Voshell's Memorial Garden.  There are still interments at the cemetery, however, it is not well maintained.  The photos below show the neighboring street and the garbage is at the corner perimeter of the cemetery.  The grass was cut and their was no debris on the actual premises.  

Thanks to Kathryn Rokitski for bringing this cemetery to our attention.

After further research, we found the following land ownership trail...

Cemetery for Fifth German Reformed-5600 Cardiff Road

Current Owner-2023
Trinity Cemetery & Company/John Budreski (Ward 26, Section 010, Block 6850, Lot 046
Deed:  Liber W.A. No.  3916, Folio 349

Bayview Crematory, Inc.  5500 O’Donnell Street, 410-633-3083

The cemetery is not listed as Trinity, however, but remains as Voshell’s Memorial Garden.  See https://www.countyoffice.org/baltimore-voshell-memorial-gardens-cemetery-baltimore-md-6fa/ There is a contact number, which is out of service.  That number is 410-633-5058

The cemetery has been turned over several times with what appears to be the initial deed in April 1852 when it was sold to William Altevoght from the Canton Company of Baltimore (Liber GHC No 34 Folio 265)

Also in September 1862, there is a record of the sale of some of the property to John Randolph from the Canton Company of Baltimore, Liber GHC No 35, Folio 341.

It changed hands again on June 2, 1972 which is when I believe it was sold from the church.  That deed RHB No 3009, Folio 301 shows the then owners as Faith and St. Marks limited Church of Christ to Charles Budreski and John A. Smith trading as Trinity Cemetery & Company.  The later, John A. Smith sold his share of the site to Budreski on June 3, 1974 (Liber RHB, No. 3148, Folio 1).

There was also a short period of time when the cemetery was owned and operated by the United Funeral Services, which was a body of the State of Maryland before being turned over to Budreski, see top/current owner.

The early deeds mention 2nd Avenue which was changed to Cardiff in 1927. 

The Cardiff Avenue cemetery is about 250 meters from the O’Donnell Street, Trinity.

Further research found that Budreski owns not only Cardiff, but Mt. Carmel, St. Matthews, and Trinity and operates with several corporations including Voshell’s Memorial Gardens, Trinity Cemetery & Company and Trinity Crematory Company.

Address:

Voshell Memorial Gardens
Aka:  St. Paul’s, German Reformed
Aka:  Bachman’s
5600 Cardiff Avenue
Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, 21224
Phone    410-633-5058

Records for the church, including burial records are maintained at:

Evangelical & Reformed Historical Society

555 W. James Street

Lancaster, PA 17603

www.erhs.info

Phone: 717-290-8734 (Please call before visiting to assure staff will be available to assist)

Email: erhs@lancasterseminary.edu

Photos taken during visit to the cemetery (April 24, 2019)

Transcriptions:  To view in separate window, click the square in the right hand corner of the table.