Laurel Hill Cemetery

Laurel Hill Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Pennsylvania state historical marker
Laurel Hill Cemetery Gatehouse in 1972
Location	3822 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates	40°00′14″N 75°11′15″W / 40.00389°N 75.18750°W / 40.00389; -75.18750
Built	1836–1839[2]
Architect	John Notman[2]
Architectural style	Exotic Revival, Gothic, Classical Revival
NRHP reference No.	77001185[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 28, 1977
Designated PHMC	May 20, 2000[3]

Laurel Hill Cemetery, also called Laurel Hill East to distinguish it from the affiliated West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.

The cemetery is 74-acre (300,000 m²) in size and overlooks the Schuylkill River. The cemetery was designed by John Notman and grew to its current size through the purchase of four land parcels between 1836 and 1861. It contains over 11,000 family lots and more than 33,000 graves, including many adorned with grand marble and granite funerary monuments, elaborately sculpted hillside tombs and mausoleums.^[4] It is an accredited arboretum with over 6,000 trees and shrubs representing 700 species.

In 1977, Laurel Hill Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places^[5] and in 1998, became the first cemetery in the United States to be designated a National Historic Landmark.^[6][7]