With more than two dozen events planned for September and October, Laurel Hill Cemetery is preparing for one of its busiest seasons. And with its blend of history, sculpture, and a full arboretum, it’s a surprisingly lively place for visitors (though not so much for its residents).

The cemetery is huge. Nancy A. Goldenberg, president and CEO of Laurel Hill, explained, “Laurel Hill East, overlooking Kelly Drive, is 78 acres, and its companion cemetery across the Schuylkill River in Bala Cynwyd, Laurel Hill West, is 187 acres, a total of 265 acres. We are much more than a cemetery.”

Some unique upcoming events include the Rest in Peace 5K Run on October 18. “It starts at dusk and it’s a difficult course through Laurel Hill East. Costumes are encouraged. Dogs can participate on leash and they can be in costume as well,” Goldenberg said. “After the run, there’s beer and prizes. Also coming up on September 20 is the Market of the Macabre, with unusual and assorted oddities and artwork. We have probably close to 100 vendors, maybe a little more, and last year we had about 5,000 people attend.”

Tours and traditions

“We also have well-loved annual events like True Tales from the Tombs,” Goldenberg said.
“It’s an hourlong tour where the cast from The Not Ready for After-Life Players enact stories of some of the permanent residents. We have a couple of new events this year in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Navy and Marine Corps.”

Other tours include “Hot Spots & Storied Plots,” held the second Saturday and fourth Friday of every month. Tom Keels has been a volunteer tour guide at Laurel Hill for 30 years, and he will conduct this tour on Halloween morning.

Keels said a monument he often features is commonly called “The Twins.”

He said, “To me this is the quintessential Laurel Hill monument because it’s such an eloquent expression of grief and loss: a man depicting his dead wife and children. Child mortality was extremely high, and many mothers died during childbirth.”

Of course, behind every stone there’s a story. “Henryk Dmochowski was born in what is today Lithuania,” Keels said. “He renamed himself Henry D. Saunders upon arriving in
Philadelphia in 1852. He had some success as a sculptor, and he married a young pianist
named Helena Schaaff. Her first pregnancy in 1855 ended in stillbirth. In 1857, her second
pregnancy ended in death for both mother and child.”

Keels continued, “Soon after, Henry began work on their memorial, which shows a disconsolate woman clutching her two wailing babies and attempting to comfort them in vain. At her feet lies an unstrung lyre, symbolizing the musical voice that has been silenced. On the other side is a bas-relief profile of Henry, along with his sculptor’s tools. By adding his own face, he makes the tomb a family portrait. Henry does not rest with his family. He returned to Lithuania in 1861 and died two years later leading a revolt against the Russian army. The location of his body is unknown.”

A living arboretum

Laurel Hill is also an accredited Level II Arboretum. Goldenberg said, “Accreditation is given by ArbNet, which uses a rating system based on things like number of species, how many staff you have caring for your arboretum, number of volunteers, programming, research, things like that. We’re very close to becoming a Level III arboretum.”

“We currently have five state championship trees,” she also noted. “To be a state champion, you need to be the largest of your species in the state. The largest tree in our entire 265-acre arboretum actually isn’t a state champion — it’s a ginkgo tree — the fourth largest ginkgo in the state. It’s just gorgeous.”

Historic roots

Founded in 1836, Laurel Hill is the second-oldest rural cemetery in the United States, established when crowded urban cemeteries left families struggling to find graves. In 1869, it expanded across the river, creating Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

Though Laurel Hill East was founded 189 years ago, it is still an active cemetery with space for new burials and has “somewhere between 1,100 and 1,500 spaces left,” Goldenberg said. “It’ll certainly last for a while, but where somebody wants to be buried is not always where we have lots. We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to add to our inventory.”

Art, monuments, and memory

Sometimes, though, “new and innovative ways” end up being a return to a practice’s origins. The cemetery’s towering obelisks and elaborate mausoleums reflect the 19th-century tastes of the Victorian Era. “The many obelisks appeared about the time the Washington Monument was being built; everybody wanted one. Tastes change over time, and what I’m seeing now is more interest in green spaces and creating gardenesque-lots,” Goldenberg said.

Green burials have become increasingly popular. “We have three green burial areas, one at Laurel Hill East and two at Laurel Hill West. They are beautiful meadows and are very popular,” she said. “There are no caskets involved, although you can be in a biodegradable container, but many people choose just to be in a shroud and laid in the earth. There’s no embalming. I’m proud to say we’re the only cemetery in the world to have received SITES Gold certification for one of our green burial areas. Because of the designation, we’re not permitted to use any power equipment, and all the graves are dug by hand.”

Nonetheless, sculptures fill the cemetery. Goldenberg said one of the most photographed monuments is at the grave of William Warner. It shows a woman lifting the lid of Warner’s coffin, and his soul escaping toward heaven. “It’s absolutely stunning,” Goldenberg said, “and sort of an enigma.” It was carved by Alexander Milne Calder, whose son, Alexander Stirling Calder, also has a sculpture in the cemetery. The father and grandfather of Alexander “Sandy” Calder, famous for his mobiles, are both buried in Laurel Hill West.

One of Goldenberg’s personal favorites is a sculpture called ‘Aspiration,’ created by Harriet Frishmuth, who is buried at Laurel Hill East. “It’s a sculpture of a beautiful woman reaching for heaven.” 

The largest mausoleum at Laurel Hill East is the tomb of Henry Disston, who founded Keystone Saw Works in Philadelphia in 1840. Goldenberg said, “The mausoleum was built in 1878. It cost $60,000 to build back then. It’s got a beautiful statue on it called ‘Memory,’ and it occupies a prime location on ‘Millionaires Row.’” Adjusted for inflation, the cost of Disston’s mausoleum would be more than $1.75 million today.

A proud man's tomb

Disston’s tomb was designed by John McArthur Jr., who went on to design Philadelphia’s City Hall. It is often a highlight of Keels’ tours. “Henry Disston is one of those great rags-to- riches stories,” Keels said. “He came to America as a young teenager and he was an orphan. His father died while the ship was in sight of Philadelphia. His little sister was taken to an orphanage, and he was apprenticed to a saw maker.”

“Disston was a natural scientist,” Keels explained. “He came up with a form of steel that was incredibly strong, but incredibly flexible at the same time. It was perfect for making saws. Disston would walk into a hardware store and pick a saw up off the counter, bend it in half, and it would snap. The owner would come roaring at him and he would open his sample case, pull out a similar saw, bend it the same way, and it didn’t break. His saw works became the largest in the country.”

Past and present

The cemetery’s Ridge Avenue gatehouse is an impressive facade sporting classical columns that look like they’re made of marble. “They’re actually wood and they are not structural,”
Goldenberg said. “We just completed the exterior rehabilitation of the gatehouse. It’s the last original and oldest remaining building in Laurel Hill, dating from our founding in 1836.” The gatehouse rehabilitation was a $4.9 million project.

Goldenberg reflected on the cemetery’s enduring civic role: “Our founders were following the model that was emerging in Europe at the time when cities were industrializing, and very dirty, and rampant with disease. They were searching for places outside of the city where people could breathe fresh air, where they could spend the day with their families and walk around and have a picnic. Remember, Fairmount Park didn’t exist yet. The Art Museum didn’t exist yet. There weren’t places in the city where you could escape to nature and fresh air.

Rural cemeteries were meant to be places for burial, but also serve the purpose of a park where people could spend a lovely afternoon strolling and enjoying themselves. It had a dual purpose. It became so popular that at one point in our history, people had to get tickets to get in.”

I’d like to think that today we are getting back to that role at Laurel Hill, and serve not only as a beautiful burial spot, but also as a place for recreation and civic value,” Goldenberg said.

From rare monuments of zinc — marketed as “Bridgeport White Bronze” — to underground vaults, beautiful stained glass that can only be seen by looking through a tiny hole in a mausoleum door, and fictional graves of Rocky characters Adrian and Paulie, Laurel Hill offers layers of history and artistry.

“We always have the future in mind. Stewardship is our second name,” Goldenberg said. “We’re always looking at other areas where we can build more green burial areas or community mausoleums. We still have the interior of the gatehouse that we’d like to restore. We will never run out of projects.”

For more information about upcoming events and tours at Laurel Hill Cemetery, visit
laurelhillphl.com.