The Hidden History of Washington's Cemeteries

Washington, D.C.’s cemeteries offer a revealing lens into the city’s layered history, where landscape design, architecture, and memory intersect. Carolyn Muraskin of DC Design Tours explores four distinctive burial grounds: Oak Hill Cemetery, Mount Zion Cemetery and Female Union Band Society Cemetery, Glenwood Cemetery, and Rock Creek Cemetery. By examining their design and symbolism and the lives they commemorate, Muraskin presents these sites not as static resting places but as dynamic cultural landscapes that continue to shape how we understand the city’s past.