The Cemeteries of St. Peter’s Parish:
A Brief History by Jerry Conlon
Mt. Olivet Cemetery was chartered by Act of the United States Congress. The cemetery was established and governed by St. Peter’s Parish along with St. Patrick’s, St. Dominic’s, and St. Matthew’s. The first burial from St. Peter’s was a young child, Matilda B. Arnold, in March 1858. The original cemetery covered 40 acres purchased from the Fenwick family’s farm along Bladensburg Road. The land area was added to over the years until it reached its present boundaries. The cemetery no longer has lots for sale. However, from time to time, the owners of existing lots sell them to others. The cemetery has an established columbarium and the cemetery currently offers niche space for sale.
Mt. Olivet was the third cemetery to be established by St. Peter’s Parish. The first, located along the C Street side of the original church, was started in 1821. This simple burying ground continued in limited use for many years. The last burial to be reported at this site was that of the parish pastor, Fr. Edward A. Knight, in September 1862. Burials were removed to the new Mt. Olivet over the years. In 1889, as part of the construction of the new church, the grade of the land, including along C Street, was lowered about 6 to 8 feet to where we see it today.
In 1825, St. Peter’s Cemetery became the second burial place for the parish. The first pastor, Fr. James F. M. Lucas, laid out the cemetery on land donated by parishioner, Nicholas Young. His original hand drawn map of the cemetery survives in our parish archives. This cemetery occupied a square block in Northeast Washington bounded by H and I Streets and 4th and 5th Streets. The December 13, 1825, burial of an enslaved African American man named Ignatious who died at age 38 was the first in the new cemetery. At the time of the cemetery’s opening, the location of burials within its boundaries was governed by factors of race, economic status, and age at time of death. These divisions became somewhat blurred over the ensuing years as burials once assigned to one of four sections began to appear in other sections. In 1863, large scale removals of the deceased to Mt. Olivet were first recorded and continued somewhat sporadically over the next years.
After the closure of St. Peter’s Cemetery in 1867 and after all burials had been relocated, the land was returned to the Young family by the parish per the terms of the original donation. The Young family graciously donated the land back to St. Peter’s. The parish then cut down the level of the land a total of 12 feet to meet the new grade of the surrounding streets. The square block was subdivided into 30 lots and sold by the parish. At Mt. Olivet, there is a common grave containing all of the unidentified bones recovered from the former cemetery. It is located at the east end of Section 1 and is in need of a marker.
Mt. Olivet was established in response to a number of factors. The existing St. Peter’s Cemetery, along with the urban cemeteries of the other founding parishes, was of limited size and could accommodate only so many grave sites. It was surrounded by a growing city hungry for buildable land. Also, during this period it was thought that cemeteries were unhealthy places and their presence in the middle of cities was considered not to be in the best interest of public health. Partly in response to these factors, the American rural or garden cemetery movement began to appear in a number of cities in the 1830’s. These cemeteries with large expanses of land and winding lanes offered a pastoral setting for cemetery use. They became popular venues for family outings and picnics. Mt. Olivet was conceived as one of these rural garden cemeteries. At the new cemetery, economic status and race continued to play a role in the location of burial sites over the next roughly one hundred years. This reality has been recognized at the cemetery and recently commemorated with a small garden of reflection.
Much of the story of St. Peter’s Parish literally rests at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Many of the “living stones” who have built our parish over the last two centuries are buried there and a number of them continue to find their final rest there. All of them, regardless of their station in life are most worthy of our prayers and remembrance, today and always.