A selection of Laurel Hill’s most famous permanent residents.
Notable Burials
- Sort by:
- Last Name
- Date of Death
- Location
Mercy Carlisle
d. October 21st 1836 • Location: E, 1
The first burial in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Carlisle was a Quaker woman who planned her own interment. A thin marble marker was placed on her grave originally, but deteriorated over time; this monument …
Sarah Josepha Hale
d. April 30th 1879 • Location: X, 61
Editor of Godey’s Lady Book, a crusader for women’s medical education, author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and the person chiefly credited with establishing Thanksgiving as a na…
Harry Kalas
d. April 13th 2009 • Location: S, 86 E 1/2
Legendary Hall of Fame Sports Broadcaster who did play-by-play radio and television broadcasting for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1971 until his death in 2009. His gravesite is marked by a large mic…
Elisha Kent Kane
d. February 16th 1857 • Location: P, 100
A polar explorer and Naval medical officer, Elisha Kent Kane was involved in two unsuccessful attempts to find and rescue Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition. During the secon…
Thomas McKean
d. June 24th 1817 • Location: G, 210
A lawyer and politician from the Philadelphia area, McKean served as the 2nd governor of Pennsylvania and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. His body was mo…
General George Gordon Meade
d. November 6th 1872 • Location: L, 1-7
George Meade, born in Caldiz, Spain was a marine engineer and oversaw the construction of several lighthouses, including the Cape May and Barnegat lighthouses. Meade served in three wars; most notably…
Lt. General John C. Pemberton
d. July 13th 1881 • Location: 9, 53
The only Confederate General buried in Laurel Hill, Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi to General Grant.
Mary Engle Pennington
d. December 27th 1952 • Location: G, 266
The modern world owes a lot to Mary Engle Pennington, bacteriologist and refrigeration engineer. Working as the first female lab chief for the Food Research Laboratory (predecessor of the FDA), she se…
David Rittenhouse
d. June 26th 1796 • Location: P, 61
Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia is named for this famed colonial astronomer, mathematician, financier, clock-maker, surveyor and first director of the U.S. Mint.
Laura Matilda Towne
d. February 22nd 1901 • Location: 7, 77-80
Towne was an educator, abolitionist and homeopathic physician from Pittsburgh. At the outbreak of the Civil War she moved to South Carolina and opened the first school for freed slaves with her friend…