The Great American History Blog

Those who conceived the idea of the modern cemetery anticipated the movement for public parks.  Cemeteries provided the public with beau...

     Matters of life and death converge at a cemetery.  In death, the everyday distinctions of race, class and religion disappear.  Cemete...

Memorial at Mount Vernon (Courtesy Library of Congress) Here descendants of Washington’s slaves gather at the memorial dedicated...

The Old Tomb At ten at night on December 14, 1799, George Washington, fearing premature burial, requested of his doctors to be “...

Hartsdale Pet Cemetery America’s oldest pet cemetery was established in Hartsdale, New York, in 1896.  A veterinarian converted his ...

Andrew Johnson      The practice of embalming only came into its own at the time of the American Civil War.   Thomas Holmes was a...