Laurel Hill Cemetery

Established in 1836, Laurel Hill was a forerunner of America’s rural cemetery movement, offering Philadelphia families a permanent, nonsectarian place of rest in a picturesque setting. Its founding partners, John Jay Smith, Nathan Dunn, Frederick Brown, and Benjamin Richards, shaped it into a world-renowned arboretum and tourist attraction. Designer John Notman created a landscape that was both artful and the first of its kind. Laurel Hill was America’s original garden cemetery and today is the first to be named a National Historic Landmark. It is the final resting place of numerous notable war heroes, politicians, inventors, artists, and industrialists who shaped the story of the city and nation. Since its founding, Laurel Hill has served not only as a place of rest for the dead but also as a place of recreation and retreat for the living.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States