Laurel Hill Cemetery

Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the second major garden or rural cemetery in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998, one of only a few cemeteries to receive the distinction. The cemetery has spectacular vistas and thousands of 19th- and 20th-century marble and granite funerary monuments on 74 acres (300,000 m) terraced above the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia's East Falls section. Obelisks dot the rolling terrain, which is highlighted by elaborately sculpted hillside tombs and mausoleums. Overall, Laurel Hill contains more than 33,000 monuments and more than 11,000 family lots. The cemetery was founded in 1836 by John Jay Smith, a librarian and editor with interests in...