NY pet cemetery now a historic destination

A Westchester County pet cemetery is the first burial ground for animals named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The 116-year-old Hartsdale Pet Cemetery says it has won the designation and plans a celebration on its grounds next month.

A letter from the Department of the Interior says federal officials based their decision on the cemetery's "social history and landscape architecture." About 75,000 animals and 700 pet owners are buried at the cemetery, which is on a woodsy slope in Hartsdale about 20 miles north of Manhattan.

National Register historian Kevin Moriarty says Hartsdale is the only pet cemetery among the 88,000 places on the list.

Cemetery director Edward Martin Jr. says the honor was the most important event in the cemetery's history. -- AP