Join us on Wednesday, March 16th, 1:00 - 5:45 p.m. for a
Symposium Sponsored by Library Company of Philadelphia, the
Laurel Hill Cemetery Company, and the Program in Historic
Preservation, University of Pennsylvania In the three decades
prior to the Civil War, Americans flocked to “rural” cemeteries
being built outside cities and towns. They came to mourn, to
tour, and buy land; to hear speeches, view monuments, and visit
family lots; to study the art of landscape gardening; and to
engage in a kind of solitude that was both social and civic in
nature. Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery, an early example of
the type, is now celebrating its 175th anniversary. In
conjunction with the exhibition “Building a City of the Dead:
The Creation and Expansion of Laurel Hill Cemetery” (on view at
the Library Company through April 29), this conference will
explore the “rural” cemetery movement and antebellum attitudes
toward death. The event is free and open to the public but pre-
registration is required. Please register