Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)

For other cemeteries with this name, see Oak Hill Cemetery.
Oak Hill Cemetery

Details
Established 1848
Location Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Country United States
Coordinates 38°54′46″N 77°03′33″W / 38.9127°N 77.0592°W / 38.9127; -77.0592Coordinates: 38°54′46″N 77°03′33″W / 38.9127°N 77.0592°W / 38.9127; -77.0592
Type private
Size 22 acres (8.9 ha)
Website www.oakhillcemeterydc.org
Find a Grave Oak Hill Cemetery
The Political Graveyard Oak Hill Cemetery

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 garden cemetery. A large number of 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.

Oak Hill began in 1848 as part of the rural cemetery movement, directly inspired by the success of Mount Auburn Cemetery, when William Wilson Corcoran (also founder of the Corcoran Gallery of Art) purchased 15 acres (6.1 ha) 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'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 black granite, 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

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References

Notes
  1. It is not clear if Yulee converted before his marriage to Nancy Christian Wickliffe or on his deathbed. Nor is the documentary evidence clear if he was seated in the U.S. before or after his reported conversion to Christianity. The more accurate description of Yulee would be to note that he was the first U.S. Senator of Jewish heritage. The first openly professing Jew to be seated in the U.S. Senate was Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana.
Citations
  1. Dodge 2005, p. 616.
  2. Shapiro, Leonard (January 18, 1992). "Laughter Amid the Sorrow". The Washington Post.
  3. Dodge 2005, p. 771.
  4. Dodge 2005, p. 912.
  5. Dodge 2005, p. 990.
  6. Dodge 2005, p. 999.
  7. Dodge 2005, p. 1026.
  8. Dodge 2005, p. 1073.
  9. Dodge 2005, p. 1091.
  10. Dodge 2005, p. 1139.
  11. Dodge 2005, p. 1233.
  12. Dodge 2005, p. 1275.
  13. Dodge 2005, p. 1311.
  14. Dodge 2005, p. 1380.
  15. Dodge 2005, p. 1450.
  16. Dodge 2005, p. 1565.
  17. Dodge 2005, p. 1725.
  18. Dodge 2005, p. 1750.
  19. Dodge 2005, p. 1751.
  20. Dodge 2005, p. 1974.
  21. Cornelius Stribling
  22. Dodge 2005, p. 2072.
  23. Dodge 2005, p. 2215.

Bibliography

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