Harrisburg Cemetery

Harrisburg Cemetery occupies about thirty-five acres of wooded, rolling parkland on the western bluff of Allison Hill, overlooking downtown Harrisburg. It opened in September 1845, when the Harrisburg Cemetery Association, chartered that February by the State General Assembly, bought twelve acres from the Henry Herr farm. The cemetery consolidated burials from smaller church and family grounds in the old borough, and about 1,550 marked graves were moved there from other cemeteries. Its caretaker's house, built in 1845 in brick Gothic Revival form with a cross-shaped plan, still stands near the main entrance. The grounds hold mausoleums, obelisks and elaborate monuments, including a cast iron Gothic spire. The cemetery is also associated with the picturesque landscape ideals of the mid-nineteenth century and is regarded as an early example of that design approach in Pennsylvania.