GPS City GuideLancasterWoodward Hill Cemetery

Stop 19 of 21 · Lancaster audio walking tour

Woodward Hill Cemetery

Lancaster · 1849 · Trinity Lutheran begins plan

What you'll hear here: about a minute on Woodward Hill Cemetery — how it came to be, who it mattered to, and what to look for while you're standing in front of it.

James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, rests in Woodward Hill Cemetery, the 32-acre garden cemetery in front of you. In October 1849 leaders of the Trinity Lutheran Church formally decided to begin the process to create a new cemetery for Lancaster County, and on October 3, 1849 they set that plan in motion. A committee reported back on November 10, 1849 that it had purchased "twelve acres, one quarter, and thirty perches" of land from Em.

C. Reigert, esquire. The church elected a board of trustees on November 4, 1850, and the burial ground was incorporated by an act of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1851. On February 2, 1852 the property transferred from the church to a group of stockholders, and the grounds officially became a non-denominational cemetery.

You may know this place best as the burial ground of James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States. In recognition of its history, Woodward Hill Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Somewhere among these grounds lies James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States.

Where it is

Coordinates
40.02611, -76.30167
Area
Lancaster
Era
1849 · Trinity Lutheran begins plan
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.