The Presbyterian Burying Ground, also known as the Old Presbyterian Burying Ground, was a historic cemetery which existed between 1802 and 1909 in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was one of the most prominent cemeteries in the city until the 1860s. Burials there tapered significantly after Oak Hill Cemetery was founded nearby in 1848.
In 1887, the Presbyterian Burying Ground closed to new burials. After an attempt was made in 1891 to demolish the cemetery and use the land for housing, about 500 to 700 bodies were disinterred. The remaining graves fell into extensive disrepair. After a decade of effort, the District of Columbia purchased the cemetery in 1909 and built Volta Park there, leaving nearly 2,000 bodies buried at the site. Occasional human remains and tombstones have been discovered at the park since its construction. A number of figures important in the early history of Georgetown and Washington, D.C., military figures, politicians, merchants, and others were buried at Presbyterian Burying Ground.
History 18th century In 1780, Reverend Stephen Bloomer Balch established the Presbyterian Congregation in Georgetown, now known as Georgetown Presbyterian Church. The new Presbyterian congregation originally met in a local home, but in 1782 it built its first church home on the southeast corner of 30th and M Streets NW. It was the only Protestant church in the District of Columbia until 1805. The congregation grew swiftly, and the church was enlarged in 1793 and 1802.
19th century A small parish graveyard originally existed alongside the church, but it quickly filled to capacity.
The Presbyterian Burying Ground was established by Georgetown Presbyterian Church on August 22, 1802, in an area now bounded by 4th, 5th, Market and Frederick Streets (now Volta Place NW and P, 33rd, and 34th Streets NW). Land for both the cemetery and a new Georgetown Presbyterian Church were donated by Dr. Charles Beatty, who provided a building lot of on the block. Beatty required that the property be used for either a church or a cemetery, and that the property should revert to Beatty's heirs if not used for either purpose. (Furthermore, the act of Congress of March 28, 1806, under which Georgetown Presbyterian Church was incorporated stipulated that the graveyard could not be used for any other purpose or disposed of.) Dr. Beatty also donated a building lot on the block to the Methodist Episcopal Church, but this land became an annex of cemetery when the Methodists declined to build there. Dr. Beatty soon donated six more lots to Georgetown Presbyterian for use as a cemetery, giving the grounds a little over . The burying ground (the term "cemetery" did not come into use until mid-century) was located in a middle-class neighborhood. On the south side of 4th Street in the southeast corner were the "20 Buildings"—two-story brick rowhouses constructed by Scottish workers who labored on the construction of the United States Capitol.
Presbyterian Burying Ground was laid out simply, similar to most cemeteries of the day. The cemetery had two gravel paths, lined with fir trees, one which bisected the grounds east–west and another which extended from 4th Street north to the center of the block. The main entrance was in the east on Market Street. Black locust trees were planted about the grounds. A winding, somewhat circular path occupied the intersection of the two fir-lined gravel walkways. No other footpaths were laid out, however, and access to most graves, vaults, and mausoleums were via informal dirt ruts in the lawn. Vandals and children were kept out by a high wooden fence.
A church was erected in 1855 on the east side of the property in the middle of the block. Sources differ as to its height (one or two stories) and its adornment (play or Gothic Revival). It contained high-back pews and a high pulpit, and served as Georgetown Presbyterian Church's primary place of worship. After the congregation erected a new church home in 1821, this small brick structure served as the cemetery chapel.
According to the Washington Federalist newspaper, "lots at present will be sold low for cash in order to defray present expenses, but when these are discharged they will rise much higher in price." Interments began almost immediately, due to the low prices the church offered, and the cemetery was instantly popular. Most of the graves were in the northern half of the cemetery, which sloped gently downward to Q Street. Families erected small headstones and, later, large funerary monuments. Some private brick mausoleums were constructed, and the church itself built a burial vault (for those who wanted above-ground burial but without the cost of erecting their own tomb) "near a corner" of the cemetery. The exact location of this "public vault is unknown. The largest mausoleums in the cemetery were erected by the Kincaids, a large and wealthy Georgetown family, and the Kurtzes, a banking and insurance family. The burying ground attracted most of Georgetown's aristocratic families, including the Campbells and Morfeats (families who founded the town) and the Eastburns. By some counts, there were more than 70 above-ground mausoleums. But the Presbyterian Burying Ground was not just for the wealthy. It became the primary cemetery for all Georgetown residents. Many middle-class families built vaults for their loved ones. These were single or double-wide graves, usually lined with brick, into which one or more bodies were interred. The vault had a marble or brick lid, usually raised up off the ground by three or four courses. Many vaults were high, and surrounded by brick walls high. At the cemetery's height, there were more than 100 vaults at Presbyterian Burying Ground.
The Presbyterian Burying Ground was, in its prime, considered beautiful and a socially desirable place for interment. The cemetery "was one of the prettiest to be found anywhere", said The Washington Post. In the 1840s and 1850s, it was considered the equal of Oak Hill or Glenwood in terms of its beauty and social standing. "During its day the cemetery was [also] looked upon as the most select in the District." The Reverend Thomas Bloomer Balch said that the cemetery was, from its inception into the 1860s, a symbol of "the pride and wealth and glory of aristocratic Georgetown".
Operational history of the cemetery Burials began at the cemetery in 1806. In January 1812, lots in the northwest corner of the cemetery were set aside for the burial of African Americans.
Although Presbyterian Burying Ground was beautiful, it did not retain its popularity for long. In 1807, the Congressional Cemetery was established on the east side of the city on the shores of the Anacostia River. Despite being one of the largest cemeteries in the District of Columbia, Presbyterian Burying Ground quickly came to be seen as too small and crowded to permit the construction of the large funerary monuments favored by Americans in the Victorian era. Large, open Congressional Cemetery, however, provided ample land for memorials. As Congressional Cemetery grew in popularity, the Presbyterian Burying Ground fell into disrepair. By 1847, thickets of weeds and shrubs had taken over the cemetery. The cemetery's large public vault, never adequately sealed, reeked of decay.
A fire at the Balch's home destroyed many of cemetery's burial records in 1831.
Another blow to the Presbyterian Burying Ground occurred in 1848, when Oak Hill Cemetery opened just five blocks to the northwest. This garden cemetery with beautiful landscaping, terraces, spacious grounds, and magnificent chapel—created and financed by the city's richest businessman, William Wilson Corcoran—deeply appealed to the residents of Georgetown and Washington. Over the next several years, Oak Hill became not only the cemetery of choice for new burials, but many families disinterred their loved ones at the Presbyterian Burying Ground and reburied them at Oak Hill. Oak Hill quickly expanded, and by 1867 had more than of space for burials. Bounded by city streets and existing homes, Presbyterian Burying Ground was limited in size. A large increase in burials at Presbyterian Burying Ground occurred during a cholera epidemic of 1834. Georgetown resident Charles H. Trunnel, who lived during the period, said that the dead were brought to the cemetery in cartloads. The dead arrived in such numbers so quickly that cemetery officials did not keep accurate records as to where corpses were buried. Many bodies were buried in the middle of the streets surrounding the cemetery, because church officials worried about filling the cemetery with cholera victims. Another upsurge in burials occurred during the American Civil War, as they did at all regional cemeteries, but otherwise the number of burials at the cemetery remained fairly constant and low.
The cemetery was only gradually enclosed after 1811. Although the fence was repaired in 1840, by 1849 the fence had almost completely collapsed and the cemetery was in a significant state of disrepair.
A fire at the sexton's home destroyed the cemetery's burial records in 1860.
The cemetery remained in general disrepair during the 1850s. But in 1860, a letter appeared in a local Georgetown newspaper which attacked the state of the graveyard. Fences were down, the gates open, cattle grazed on the property, and many of the funerary monuments and headstones vandalized. Women at Georgetown Presbyterian Church were scandalized. They formed a committee, led by Miss Mary Thomas, and asked that the cemetery be given into their care. The church leaders agreed, and the Thomas committee quickly made major repairs to the fences and walkways. The grounds were cleared of weeds and sod planted where the earth was bare. Until Thomas' death in 1890, the cemetery remained in good repair. The neighborhood surrounding Presbyterian Burying Ground, however, deteriorated after the American Civil War. Once home to upper-middle-class families, by 1891 it was surrounded mostly by homes leased by poor African Americans, and crime, vandalism, public drunkenness, and violence were common in the area.
Closure and 1891 demolition attempt Sextons' records showed that between 1860 and 1887, more than 1,200 burial plots were sold at Presbyterian Burying Ground. Each plot could hold as many as three people.
The cemetery, however, was in deteriorating condition. A number of bodies were buried in the public burial vault, described as on Market Street adjoining the chapel. But the odor of these decomposing bodies was so strong that the D.C. Board of Public Health declared the vault a nuisance and ordered it closed on April 10, 1874. On January 27, 1876, workmen digging the foundation of a house near the corner of 5th and Market (the northwest corner of the cemetery) discovered between eight and 10 skeletons. These were bodies buried during the 1834 cholera epidemic, and they were reburied further back on the lot.
It is not clear when the last interment was made at Presbyterian Burying Ground. The Washington Post reported it was a six-year-old child, buried in 1886, but D.C. public health records show it may have been a one-year-old child named Charles Frederick Watkins, buried on July 11, 1887. Presbyterian Burying Ground closed to new burials in 1887, at which time it contained an estimated 2,700 bodies. The closure significantly impacted the cemetery's finances. For thirty years, the cemetery had used the income generated by the sale of lots to keep the graveyard in good repair. Excess income, however, was not placed in a trust but rather used for other charitable purposes. The cemetery's sexton died about 1887 as well, and the church—with little incentive to appoint a new one—allowed the ground to once more fall into disrepair.