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-19th century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries, which tended to be churchyards. Rural cemeter ...

. 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, was the inspiration for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

-winning novel '' Lincoln in the Bardo'' 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 we ...

History

Oak Hill began in 1848 as part of the rural cemetery movement, directly inspired by the success of

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

near

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, when

William Wilson Corcoran William Wilson Corcoran (December 27, 1798 – February 24, 1888) was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector. He founded the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Early life and education Corcoran was born on December 27, ...

(also founder of the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

) 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, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's Castle on Washington Mall and

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York St. Patrick's Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is the seat of the Archbishop of New York as well as a parish church. The cathedral occupies a city block bounded by Fifth Avenue, M ...

. 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 Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

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 Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...

* 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 and later as executive editor of ''The Washington Post'', from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the ''Post'' joined ''The ...

* William P. Burch *

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

* Lorenzo Dow * Peggy Eaton *

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, wh ...

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor ...

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, in ...

* Willie Lincoln (formerly interred) * Myrtilla Miner * Francis G. Newlands * Edwin P. Parker Jr. * Paul J. Pelz * Charles Anthony Schott * Mark Shields * E. D. E. N. Southworth * Edwin M. Stanton * Cornelius Stribling

In popular culture

* The cemetery is the setting of the 2017

novel '' Lincoln in the Bardo''. * 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. His novels are published in over 45 languages and published in over 80 countries, having sold ove ...

novel ''The Camel Club''. * A tomb in the cemetery is described as the site of a

dead drop A dead drop or dead letter box is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items or information between two individuals (e.g., a case officer and an agent, or two agents) via a secret location. By avoiding direct meetings, individuals can ...

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 Americans, 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 ...

novel '' The Inner Circle'' *The cemetery released a history book, "Oak Hill Cemetery" by Laura Lavelle (nee Hackfeld) with Arcadia Publishing on January 22, 2024.

Photo gallery

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

, lawyer, politician and former Secretary of State File:Grave of Stephen Osusky - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Memorial stone for Stefan Osusky, lawyer, diplomat, politician and co-founder of Czechoslovakia 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, Memorial stone of Jesse L. Reno, general File:Joseph Willard tomb - Amphitheater section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Memorial stone of Joseph Edward Willard, diplomat and politician 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, Memorial stone of Maxwell Van Zandt Woodhull, soldier File:Nathan Loughborough grave - Rock Creek section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Memorial stone of Nathan Loughborough, Comptroller of the Treasury 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, Memorial stone of John Howard Payne, poet, writer, playwright and actor File:Unknown Revolutionary War soldier marker - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Unknown Revolutionary War soldier marker File:William McKee Dunn grave - Joyce section - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Memorial stone of William McKee Dunn, lawyer, judge and politician File:William Pinkney - fifth Episcopal Bishop of MD - Oak Hill Cemetery - 2013-09-04.jpg, Memorial stone of William Pinkney, Episcopal Bishop of Maryland 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 Cemeteries established in the 1840s