“Revisiting Rural Cemeteries”

Join us on Wednesday, March 16th, 1:00 – 5:45 p.m. for a Symposium Sponsored by Library Company of Philadelphia, the Laurel Hill Cemetery Company, and the Program in Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania

In the three decades prior to the Civil War, Americans flocked to “rural” cemeteries being built outside cities and towns. They came to mourn, to tour, and buy land; to hear speeches, view monuments, and visit family lots; to study the art of landscape gardening; and to engage in a kind of solitude that was both social and civic in nature. Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery, an early example of the type, is now celebrating its 175th anniversary. In conjunction with the exhibition “Building a City of the Dead: The Creation and Expansion of Laurel Hill Cemetery” (on view at the Library Company through April 29), this conference will explore the “rural” cemetery movement and antebellum attitudes toward death. The event is free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. Please register here.