Glenwood Cemetery Historic District
Glenwood Cemetery is one of DC's longest-running cemeteries and its first for-profit graveyeard.
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Chartered by Congress in 1852, Glenwood Cemetery was the first for-profit cemetery in the District, and among the first nationwide. This business model, initially disdained as disrespectful to the deceased, has since been adopted by most cemeteries, from the late 19th century to the present. Glenwood was laid out by engineer Georges de la Roche, whose landscaping and curving roads frame the cemetery's diverse collection of grave markers, statuary, mausoleums, and other memorials.
The cemetery's picturesque landscape, with curving roads and carefully placed trees and shrubs, frame a diverse collection of funerary markers and memorials. Continuously active since site work commenced in 1852, the cemetery embodies stylistic interpretations of the three major cemetery design movements of the 19th and 20th centuries: the Rural, Lawn Park, and Memorial Park Movements.
DC Inventory: April 28, 2016
