Congress Cemetery

The Congress Cemetery or Washington Parish Cemetery is a historic and current cemetery adjacent to street number 1801 on the west bank of the Anacostia River . The cemetery is located three blocks east of the Potomac Avenue Station on the Washington Metro and two blocks south of Stadium Armery .

Founded before the Civil War , the cemetery contains more than 65,000 graves, including those who helped shape the nation and the city of Washington in the early 19th century. Although the cemetery is privately owned, the U.S. Government owns 806 buried sites managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs . Congress, located about one and a half miles (2.4 km) northwest, has a huge impact on the history of the cemetery. The cemetery still sells plots, and is a functioning burial ground.

Many members of the US Congress who died in office were buried in Congressional Cemetery. The remaining burials include tombstones of landowners, speculators, builders, architects of early Washington history, Native American diplomats, Washington mayors, and Civil War veterans. There are also related graves in the cemetery that are not affiliated with the US Federal Government.

In particular, the cemetery was buried: one Vice President , one judge of the Supreme Court , six members of the Government, 19 senators and 71 members of the House of Representatives (including the former Speaker of the House), the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, John Edgar Hoover , as well as veterans of American wars.

On June 23, 1969, the cemetery was included in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2011, declared a national historical monument.