Imagine setting out a picnic near the graves of your ancestors. While anathema to citizens of the twenty-first century, to those living in the nineteenth, a site like Rock Creek Church Yard and Cemetery beckoned both as a refuge from city life and a bucolic setting where deceased loved ones could be remembered with al fresco repasts and restful strolls.
Where is Rock Creek Cemetery?
First established in 1719 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Northwest D.C., Rock Creek Cemetery features a natural rolling landscape and winding pathways beneath groves of trees. The grave of the District official who lined the city’s streets with trees, Alexander Robey Shepherd, rises beneath specimens planted during his lifetime.
Artful tombstones and breathtaking sculptures are abundant, most notable the evocative memorial to Henry and Marian Adams designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. It alone is worth the visit.
Who is Buried in Rock Creek Cemetery?
- Brewer and philanthropist Christian Heurich is buried in an ornate mausoleum.
- Department store magnates Henry Lansburgh and Levi Leiter
- Writer and public intellectual Gore Vidal
- Irrepressible Washingtonian and First Daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Explore more Washington, D.C. walks: Theodore Roosevelt Island and Rock Creek Park
