Ireland Street Cemetery
- Address: Ireland St
To Elijah Phelps (ca 1761-1842) are attributed two marble stones: Thomas Halbert, 1778, and Margaret Halbert, 1780 and the lost Theodate Phelps stone, for which a date was not found in the 1940s DAR inventory. Biographical information on Phelps begins with his father, Nathaniel Phelps (1721-1789), who was a stonecutter in Northampton, Massachusetts. Two of Nathaniel's three sons, Elijah and Rufus, became stonecutters. Rufus remained in Northampton for his entire career, but towards the end of the Revolutionary War, Elijah moved the center of his activity from Northampton to Berkshire County, where marble quarries were plentiful. There he is thought to have lived in Lanesboro, working for the stone carver Caleb Smith. Phelps initialed two stones, Sarah Smith, 1779, and Elisabeth Garlick, 1783, in Lanesboro and Hoosick, New York. From these two stones are traced the later work that makes up his catalogue. Although the Halbert stones are of different sizes, they are clearly from the same hand. Central to the arch of each of the tabernacle-shaped stones is a soul effigy or cherub with widespread wings. Lettering style is identical as well. The Theodate Phelps stone, noted as being partially underground in 1940, is now lost. - NRHP 14 May 2009