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Assume a cemetery that is commonly known as the Anglican Cemetery. It is currently in use, but a number of graves date back 200 years. A book about some of the early graves is entitled “A guide to the Anglican Historical Cemetery”.

It seems to me that “historical” implies “no longer in existence” or “no longer in use” and therefore does not apply to this cemetery.

On the other hand, is “historical” redundant? Aren’t all cemeteries essentially historical?

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    Have you checked in some dictionaries to see if your hunch is true? The merriam-webster. with the Cambridge and the Oxford dictionaries would give a good idea.
    – Tuffy
    Commented Jul 7, 2019 at 16:06
  • Well, as you say, if we think strictly black-and-white, then either all cemeteries are always historical, or exacly none ever is. And that right there is our answer: the term is not used to distinguish cemeteries from non-cemeteries; that's what the word "cemetery" already does. Rather, it's used to differentiate between different kinds of cemetery. Not to tell black from white, but to introduce a shade of gray. Now, maybe there's a better word for the job, but I think this one does fine. I can think of cemeteries that are historical, and of cemeteries that are not. It brings the point across.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Jul 7, 2019 at 16:28
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    Anything that's in the past is historical by definition. The title of the pamphlet seems fine since, first, it's a title, and, second, it's emphasizing the past of the cemetery. If it was trying to emphasize the importance of the cemetery, I would expect the word historic to be used instead. Then again, it's possible that the particular cemetery has that word in its actual complete name—and it's not being used as an adjective at all.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Jul 7, 2019 at 17:04
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    I don't see a problem with a place which is still in use being referred to as "historical". You can watch plays in historical theatres, live in historical houses and drink, or even stay, in historical inns. I worked in an historical factory once (although the product we made wasn't what it had been built to produce).
    – BoldBen
    Commented Jul 8, 2019 at 3:11
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    There has to be some point in time or significance of use at which a cemetery or a house or a bicycle changes from being from old to being historic. A cemetery opened last week is not historic unless someone of great historical significance is buried there. US Customs has solved this problem for its jurisdiction: If it is 100 or more years old, it is an antique. Otherwise it is merely old.
    – ab2
    Commented Aug 7, 2019 at 1:57

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In the U.S., many states define various aspects of historic cemeteries:

Oregon

Definition of “historic cemetery.” For purposes of ORS 97.772 (Definition of “historic cemetery”) to 97.784 (Executive secretary), “historic cemetery” means any burial place that contains the remains of one or more persons who died before February 14, 1909.

Dates of such designations vary. Some cemeteries have historic sections, and thus my still be currently in use

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  • This answer refers to "historic" not "historical". It's not unusual for "historic" and "historical" to get confused (they have slightly different meanings but both meanings can be applied to some things). But for it to be a valid answer, it should really address the difference between "historic" and "historical" in some way.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 10:24

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