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Nestled in the heart of Ward 7 in Washington, DC, historic Woodlawn Cemetery sits on 22.5 acres, serving as the final resting place for more than 36,000 individuals. While walking through the rolling hills of Woodlawn Cemetery visitors will find many recognizable individuals who contributed to local and national history.
Our history begins with Graceland, an integrated cemetery founded in 1872, located near the intersection of Benning Road and H Street NE. Facing the impending urbanization of the area, several individuals associated with Graceland Cemetery decided to move Graceland to a more rural area. In 1895, historic Woodlawn Cemetery was founded. Initial interments in Woodlawn, from 1895 to 1898, were primarily re-interments of more than 6,000 people from Graceland Cemetery. Subsequent interments included many prominent African Americans, among them Blanche K. Bruce, born a slave in 1841 and elected to the U.S. Senate in 1875, and John Mercer Langston, U.S. Representative from Virginia and Dean of the Howard University Law School from 1869 to 1879. In honor of the prominence of many of the interred, Woodlawn Cemetery was placed on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 1991 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
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