Congressional Cemetery, National Historic Landmark cemetery in Barney Circle, United States.
Congressional Cemetery is a burial ground in Barney Circle in southeast Washington that covers a large area with paths running between rows of graves and monuments. The site displays different styles of headstones, from simple slabs to taller monuments with inscriptions and decorative carvings.
A church parish founded the cemetery in 1807 as a burial ground for the growing city. Over the decades it became a resting place for many members of Congress who died while in office, which gave the site its current name.
The cemetery takes its name from the practice of burying members of Congress who died while serving in the capital. Today locals visit for walks among the old gravestones from the 1800s, which stand beneath mature trees throughout the grounds.
The grounds are located in the southeast part of the city on E Street and are open during set hours for visitors. Guided walks explain the importance of individual graves and show the different types of monuments across the site.
Besides the human graves there is a separate section for deceased pets, which is rare among historical burial grounds of this kind. Several well-known figures from music and government found their final resting place here.
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