West Laurel Hill Cemetery

Description

The cemetery is laid out with panoramic views of the Schuylkill River and thousands of planted trees. The cemetery is an accredited arboretum with over 150 species of trees and is a member of American Public Gardens Association. It contains monuments and mausoleums of varying architectural design including Egyptian, Gothic and Greek. The earliest sections of the cemetery were influenced by the "landscape lawn" design implemented by Adolph Strauch at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The cemetery opened a designated Jewish section called Chesed Shel Emet in 2011. A second Jewish section, Makom Shalom, opened in 2022. The cemetery and funeral home offers services consistent with Jewish burial and mourning traditions.

The cemetery contains the Nature's Sanctuary which is a natural burial section that only allows biodegradable caskets, shrouds and urns. All the graves are dug by hand and the section is landscaped with local grasses, trees and shrubbery.

West Laurel Hill was the first cemetery to map its grounds on a smart phone device, enabling visitors to search and navigate to grave locations, and access photos, video, text and other information.

History

19th century

Laurel Hill Cemetery, in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia, was founded in 1836 and was the preferred burial ground of Philadelphia's rich and famous. By the mid-19th century, the creation of Fairmount Park and the encroaching city began to limit the expansion of Laurel Hill Cemetery. In 1869, John Jay Smith, the founder of Laurel Hill Cemetery, purchased 200 acre from three farms in Bala Cynwyd for the creation of West Laurel Hill Cemetery. The first burial occurred in 1870.

In the early days of the cemetery, transportation was difficult and burials were an all day affair. Funeral processions would arrive by steamboat on the Schuylkill River from Philadelphia and the caskets would be transported by carriage up the steep bluffs to the cemetery. Eventually, the Reading Railroad implemented rail service and funeral entourages would arrive at the Pencoyd Station.

In 1886, a Gothic Revival bell tower designed by the architectural firm Cope and Stewardson was built at the highest elevation of the cemetery.

20th century

In 1992, the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1994, West Laurel Hill purchased Bringhurst Funeral Home and, in 1997, a new funeral home was built on the property.

21st century

The on-cemetery funeral home was renamed West Laurel Hill Funeral Home in 2016 and to Laurel Hill Funeral Home in 2022.

Notable burials

Main article: List of burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery

Gallery

File:West Laurel Hill Cemetery Gates.jpg|West Laurel Hill Cemetery gates File:WLHC Fall 07008.jpg|Harry Wright Memorial File:Tower West Laurel Hill.JPG|The 1886 Gothic Revival Bell Tower designed by Cope and Stewardson sits at the highest elevation in West Laurel Hill Cemetery File:Duffys Cut Cross West Laurel Hill.JPG|Memorial to the victims of Duffy's Cut File:West Laurel Hill Cemetery World War I Memorial.jpg|World War I Memorial File:West Laurel Hill Cemetery Natures Sanctuary.jpg|Nature's Sanctuary natural burial section

References

References

1. "Laurel Hill West". Laurel Hill Cemetery.
2. "West Laurel Cemetery". Lower Merion Conservancy.
3. {{NRISref. 2009a
4. Pamela W. Fox. (June 1991). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania SP West Laurel Hill Cemetery". National Archives and Records Administration.
5. "About the Arboretum". Laurel Hill.
6. (2010). "Architecture Walks – The Best Outings Near New York City". Rutgers University Press.
7. "West Laurel Hill Cemetery to Open New Jewish Section".
8. "Jewish Services".
9. "Green Services". Laurel Hill.
10. "a mobile app brings the dead to life at west laurel hill cemetery". Flying Kite.
11. (2018). "Grave Landscapes – The Nineteenth Century Rural Cemetery Movement". The University of South Carolina Press.
12. "Pennsylvania – Montgomery County". [[National Register of Historic Places]].
13. "History". Laurel Hill.