The District’s Departed
The definitive guidebook to celebrated and obscure cemeteries in and around the nation’s capital
Perfect for the “tombstone tourist,” this guidebook to eleven cemeteries in and around the District of Columbia offers informative walking tours of these places of repose and reflection, mapping each cemetery’s distinct character derived from the landscape, the local community, and the historical era in which it was established, and showcasing exquisite artistic and architectural styles.
Kim Roberts Meikle notes how the purposes these cemeteries were designed to serve are interwoven with our histories of race, class, religion, and military service. Tours include Arlington National Cemetery, with its rigid formats for design reflective of a shifting understanding of public memorialization after the ravages of the Civil War; historically Black cemeteries such as Mt. Zion Methodist, where those frequently excluded from municipal or private cemeteries were laid to rest and lovingly remembered; and cemeteries notable for their magnificent funerary art such as Oak Hill and Rock Creek. With these engagingly written walking tours, Meikle vividly shows what the living can learn from the dead.
- Paul K. Williams, Superintendent of the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown and author of Lost Washington, D.C.Kim Roberts Meikle is a true taphophile—a person who loves cemeteries. For the first time, this guide answers the questions that I’m most often asked: How many cemeteries are there in DC? What is the oldest? This is a well-researched resource and a fascinating read for residents, scholars, and visitors alike.
- Anne O. Brockett, Architectural Historian, DC Historic Preservation OfficeWith The District’s Departed, Kim Roberts Meikle offers an in-depth look at some of the DC region’s most well-known cemeteries. The book is thoughtfully organized into walking tours of each burial ground, allowing Meikle to weave stories of DC’s historical figures, notable artworks, and places of commemoration into a must-read book for tombstone tourists and history buffs.
- Matthew Gilmore is editor of H-DC and author of Historic Photos of Washington, D.C.As Washington grew and urbanized, and funerary fashions changed, many cemeteries were created, expanded, and disappeared. In The District's Departed, Kim Roberts Meikle provides engaging, fact-filled tours of the Washington DC area’s well-known and lesser-known (or unknown) cemeteries. Her selection of the many interments and memorials of each cemetery offers a cross-section of Washington history, and her book honors the lives (and deaths) of so many participants in the life of the city and nation.
Kim Roberts Meikle is a freelance literary historian, writer, and editor living in Washington, DC. She is the author of A Literary Guide to Washington, DC.
