Rockville Cemetery (Maryland)

Rockville Cemetery
Rockville Cemetery
	Rockville Cemetery on July 3, 2021.
Details
Established	ca. 1740
Location	Rockville, Maryland
Country	United States
Coordinates	39°05′03″N 077°07′32″W / 39.08417°N 77.12556°W
Type	Non-profit
Style	Upper/western section: Rural cemetery Lower/eastern section: Lawn cemetery
Owned by	Rockville Cemetery Association, Inc.
Size	26.64 acres (10.78 ha)
No. of interments	ca. 4,600
Website	https://www.rockvillecemeterymd.org/
Find a Grave	Rockville Cemetery
The Political Graveyard	Rockville Cemetery

Rockville Cemetery is a cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, United States. It is the oldest burial ground in the Rockville community. It sometimes is referred to as Rockville Union Cemetery, although that has never been its name.

Physical features

Rockville Cemetery is located on the eastern edge of Rockville

lawn cemetery.^[1] The two sections are divided by both a stream and a dramatic change in elevation between the higher western and lower eastern sections.^[1]

History

The

graveyard had been established as burials began on the chapel's grounds;^[1] the oldest surviving stone grave marker dates to 1752.^[1] Almost a century later, Christ Episcopal Church moved from the old chapel into the City of Rockville, but burials continued at the graveyard.^[1]

Ownership of the cemetery changed in 1880, when five

Protestant denominations incorporated the Rockville Cemetery Association of Montgomery County and made the cemetery a community burial space open to all.^[1] By that time, the neglected cemetery had fallen into disrepair and become a veritable wilderness, but the new ownership revitalized interest in its care and maintenance during the 1880s.^[1] A women's group, the Rockville Union Cemetery Association, took responsibility for the management and maintenance of the cemetery and beautified the property.^[1] In 1889, a caretaker's cottage and outbuilding were constructed at the cemetery.^[1]

Demand for space led to the expansion of Rockville Cemetery to include its lower, eastern section, which was laid out in 1936.[1] The City of Rockville annexed the cemetery in 1984.^[1]

Interest in maintenance of the cemetery waned again, and by the late 20th century it again had fallen into disrepair.

tombstones, and the installation of road signs to direct visitors to the graves of their loved ones and to those of notable people buried at the cemetery.^[1]

The Rockville Cemetery Association's financial position improved significantly between 2014 and 2020 thanks to substantial growth in grave sales and burials.[1] During these years, the Association continued to convert all of the cemetery's records to a digital format, standardized grave site codification, created high-quality section maps, expanded and enhanced the cemetery's website, refurbished and upgraded the caretaker's cottage and gave it a public water connection, completed the planting of more than 30 trees, and expanded the cemetery's program of community events.^[1]

Notable burials

More than 4,600 people are buried at Rockville Cemetery.^[1] Notable burials include:

Upton Beall (1770–1827), second
clerk of the court of Montgomery County^[1]

Maryland Court of Appeals (1861–1867)^[1]

Stephen Clusky Cromwell, Jr. (1925–2015), first president of the Rockville Cemetery Association (2001–2014) and descendant of Rebecca Viers [1]
John G. England (1845–1913), mayor of Rockville (1894–1896)^[2]
John Trumbull Garvin (1892-1943), American diplomat^[2]
John Harding (1685–1752), whose
tombstone is the oldest remaining stone marker in the cemetery^[1]

Cleveland Indians,^[3] and Montgomery County commissioner^[1]

officer

Paul Peck (1889–1912), aviation pioneer
E. Barrett Prettyman (1891–1971), senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1962–1971)
E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. (1925–2016), prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer, son of E. Barrett Prettyman
Members of the Pumphrey family of
undertakers^{[citation needed}
]

Edward Elisha Stonestreet (1830–1903), Rockville physician and town councilman^[1]
Rebecca Thomas Viers
née Bialys (1833–1918), leader of the Rockville Union Cemetery Association^[1]