Oak Hill Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was founded in 1848 and completed in 1853, and is a prime example of a

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...

. Many famous politicians, business people, military people, diplomats, and philanthropists are buried at Oak Hill, and the cemetery has a number of Victorian-style memorials and monuments. Oak Hill has two structures which are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

: the Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel and the Van Ness Mausoleum. The cemetery's interment of "Willie" Lincoln, deceased son of president

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, was the inspiration for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel ''

Lincoln in the Bardo ''Lincoln in the Bardo'' is a 2017 experimental novel by American writer George Saunders. It is Saunders's first full-length novel and was the ''New York Times'' hardcover fiction bestseller for the week of March 5, 2017. The novel takes place ...

'' by

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a w ...

History

Oak Hill began in 1848 as part of the rural cemetery movement, directly inspired by the success of Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston, Massachusetts, when William Wilson Corcoran (also founder of the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

) purchased of land. He then organized the Cemetery Company to oversee Oak Hill; it was incorporated by act of Congress on March 3, 1849. Oak Hill's chapel was built in 1849 by noted architect James Renwick, who also designed the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's Castle on Washington Mall and St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. His one-story rectangular chapel measures 23 by 41 feet (7×12 m) and sits on the cemetery's highest ridge. It is built of blue gneiss, in Gothic Revival style, with exterior trim in the same red Seneca sandstone used for the Castle. By 1851, landscape designer Captain George F. de la Roche finished laying out the winding paths and terraces descending into Rock Creek valley. When initial construction was completed in 1853, Corcoran had spent over $55,000 on the cemetery's landscaping and architecture. On October 4, 2022, historic preservationist Paul K. Williams became the cemetery's 14th Superintendent in residence and COO of the Oak Hill Cemetery Historic Cemetery Foundation.

Notable interments

* Dean Acheson *

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...

* Gamaliel Bailey * Margaret Lucy Shands Bailey * James G. Blaine (formerly interred) *

Ben Bradlee Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (, 1921 – , 2014) was an American journalist who served as managing editor, then as executive editor of ''The Washington Post'', from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the ''Post'' joined ''The New Y ...

* William P. Burch *

Adolf Cluss Adolf Ludwig Cluss (July 14, 1825 – July 24, 1905) also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, respons ...

Lorenzo Dow Lorenzo Dow (October 16, 1777February 2, 1834) was an eccentric itinerant American evangelist, said to have preached to more people than any other preacher of his era. He became an important figure and a popular writer. His autobiography at one ti ...

* Peggy Eaton * Katherine Graham *

Herman Hollerith Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, i ...

* Willie Lincoln (formerly interred) * Edwin P. Parker Jr. * Paul J. Pelz *

Charles Anthony Schott Charles Anthony Schott (August 7, 1826 – July 31, 1901) was a German-American scientist. Biography Charles Anthony Schott was born at Mannheim, Baden, Germany on August 7, 1826. In 1847 he was graduated from the Polytechnic School, at Karlsruh ...

* E. D. E. N. Southworth *

Edwin M. Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

In popular culture

* The cemetery is the setting of the 2017

novel

. * The cemetery was a part of the plot in the

David Baldacci David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960) is an American novelist. An attorney by education, Baldacci writes mainly suspense novels and legal thrillers. Biography Early life and education David Baldacci was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. ...

novel ''The Camel Club''. * A tomb in the cemetery is described as the site of a dead drop in the John Le Carre novel The Perfect Spy. *The cemetery was a part of the plot in the

Brad Meltzer Brad Meltzer (born April 1, 1970) is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, TV show creator, and comic book author. His novels touch on the political thriller, legal thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, while he has also written superher ...

novel '' The Inner Circle''

Photo gallery

File:Edwin M Stanton grave - Reno Hill section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:George Hughes Revercomb grave - Corcoran section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Grave of Dean Acheson - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Hollerith Herman grave.jpg, Memorial stone for

, mathematician and inventor File:Jesse Lee Reno grave - Reno Hill section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Joseph Willard tomb - Amphitheater section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Looking SE through rock bridge - Amphitheater section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Maxwell VanZandt Woodhull - Rock Creek section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Nathan Loughborough grave - Rock Creek section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Oak Hill Cemetery (2896506880).jpg, File:Oak Hill Cemetery (2896529580).jpg, File:Oak Hill Cemetery (2896539950).jpg, File:Gravestone of john howard payne oak hill cemetery.JPG, File:Unknown Revolutionary War soldier marker - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:William McKee Dunn grave - Joyce section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:William Pinkney - fifth Episcopal Bishop of MD - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, File:Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg,

References

Bibliography

External links

National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary
* {{Authority control 1848 establishments in Washington, D.C. Botanical gardens in Washington, D.C. Cemeteries in Washington, D.C. Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) * Rural cemeteries