Congressional Cemetery

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The Congressional Cemetery is an historic cemetery located at 1801 E Street, SE, in Washington, D.C., on the bank of the Anacostia River. It is the final resting place of hundreds of individuals who helped form the nation and the city of Washington in the early 1800s. Many members of United States Congress who died while Congress was in session are interred at Congressional. Other burials include the early land owners and speculators, the builders and architects of the great buildings of Washington, native American diplomats, mayors of Washington, and hundreds of Civil War veterans. Nineteenth-century Washington, D.C. families unaffiliated with the federal government have also had graves and tombs at the cemetery. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 23, 1969.

It was first established by private citizens in 1807 and later given over to Christ Church, which later gave it the name Washington Parish Burial Ground. By 1817 sites were set aside for government legislators and officials; this includes cenotaphs for many legislators buried elsewhere. The cenotaphs were designed by Benjamin Latrobe. The Latrobe design consists of a large square block with recessed panels set on a wider plinth and surmounted by a conical point. The design is considered a rare and possibly unique example of Visionary architecture in the United States, of the kind practiced by the 18th-century French visionary architects Etienne-Louis Boullée and Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

The cemetery is still owned by Christ Church but is now managed by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery (APHCC). In recent years, Congressional has witnessed a great turn around in its situation. Where the grass was unmowed in 2000, the board now has established an endowment fund that will maintain the lawn in perpetuity. The Association hosts over 500 volunteer each year working on a wide variety of projects: from planting bulbs to resetting tombstones to pruning trees, doing research, and writing a newsletter.

The Association web site is by far the most expansive cemetery web site with over 25,000 obituaries, news clips back to the 1820s, then and now photographs, and transcripts of descriptions of early Washington. Various themed tours are in the works and some available on the web site highlighting many of the everyday patriots that helped form the Nation and its capital city. [www.congressionalcemetery.org]

The cemetery will celebrate its bicentennial in 2007 with a Heritage Festival on May 19, 2007 on the grounds of the cemetery. The Festival will include marching bands (honoring John Philip Sousa), Civil War re-enactors, stone conservation demonstrations, several themed tours, landscape and watershed management demonstrations, stone rubbings and other activities. All are welcome.

Congressional Cemetery is also known for allowing members of the APHCC to walk dogs off-leash on the cemetery grounds. In addition to their annual dues, K-9 Corps members pay an additional fee for the privilege of walking their dog in one of Washington, DC's great open spaces. Dog walkers follow a set of rules and regulations and provide valuable volunteer time to restore and beautify this historic place. The K-9 Corps maintains a web presence at [www.cemeterydogs.org]