Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)

Oak Hill Cemetery is a historic 22-acre (8.9 ha) 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. 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 Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel and the Van Ness Mausoleum.

For other cemeteries with this name, see Oak Hill Cemetery.
Oak Hill Cemetery
Italianate gatehouse, Oak Hill Cemetery
Location of the cemetery in Georgetown
Details
Established1848
Location
30th and R Streets, NW
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
CountryUnited States
Coordinates38°54′46″N 77°03′33″W
Typeprivate
Size22 acres (8.9 ha)
Websitewww.oakhillcemeterydc.org
Find a GraveOak Hill Cemetery
The Political GraveyardOak Hill Cemetery

The cemetery's interment of "Willie" Lincoln, deceased son of president Abraham Lincoln, was the inspiration for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.[1]

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) purchased 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land.[2] 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'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.

Notable interments
Main article: List of burials at Oak Hill Cemetery

References
  1. Kelly, John (April 17, 2017). "Perspective | 'Lincoln in the Bardo' novel has people flocking to a Georgetown cemetery". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  2. "The Famous Tenants of Oak Hill Cemetery". The Georgetown Metropolitan. March 18, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  3. "READ EXCERPT: 'The Camel Club,' by David Baldacci". ABC News. May 26, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  4. "A Spy's Cache". The Georgetown Metropolitan. September 12, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2020.

Bibliography
External video
Oak Hill Cemetery, Dave Jackson, October 4, 2016
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