Rockville’s wealth of historic cemeteries originated as family, church, and community resting places.  Some are protected and maintained; others are in stages of neglect or not evident to the passerby.  Each cemetery is unique in what it teaches us about people, occupations, customs, art, social structure, and landscaping.  [HD indicates designation as Historic District)

COMMUNITY BURIAL GROUNDS

ROCKVILLE CEMETERY (HD) on Baltimore Road predates Rockville and Montgomery County.  Opened near the Anglican chapel in 1739, it became interdenominational in 1880.  Notables buried here include Walter “Big Train” Johnson (baseball great), Upton Beall (second Clerk of Circuit Court), William Veirs Bouic, Jr. (Rockville’s first Mayor), and the Pumphrey family (carpenters and undertakers).  The landscape  melds Colonial, rural cemetery movement, and 20^th century lawn/park design elements.

HAITI CEMETERY (HD) started as a family cemetery in the 1880s but soon sold plots to other black families along Martin’s Lane.  Earlier burials of Beall slaves near Van Buren Street were relocated to Lincoln Park in the 20^th century.  In 1917, the Order of Galilean Fisherman opened a cemetery in LINCOLN PARK.  Used by black families in Montgomery County, this hallowed ground holds remains of people named Shelton, Hill, Isreal, Smith, Smith, Davis, Prather, Wood, and others important in Rockville history.

Also nearby are the POOR FARM CEMETERY and ASPIN HILL PET CEMETERY (HD).  The Poor Farm, or County Almshouse, was, from the 18^th through the mid-20^th centuries, a working farmstead for homeless or destitute County residents.  The cemetery on the east side of I-270 was excavated prior to development in the area; about 100 graves were reinterred at Parklawn in 1987.    Aspin Hill, from the early 1920s, is the second oldest pet cemetery in America.   More than 40,000 pets are interred here as well as some humans who dearly loved their pets.

CHURCH BURIAL GROUNDS

In addition to the Episcopalians, other denominations opened burying grounds.  SAINT MARY’S (HD), Rockville’s oldest religious building in continuous use, operates cemeteries along Veirs Mill and Baltimore roads.  Notables here include author F. Scott Fitzgerald and 14 relatives, the Maddox family (surveyors and physicians), and Matthew and Rebecca Fields (editors of the Sentinel).   From 1839 to 1897, Baptists buried loved ones in the BAPTIST CEMETERY (HD) on Jefferson Street.  Here lie the remains of miller Samuel Veirs, Brice Selby (Delegate, Sheriff, Judge, Clerk of the Court), and William Veirs Bouic (incorporator of Rockville, Judge, director of C&O Canal Co.).

FAMILY BURIAL GROUNDS

CRABB CEMETERY (HD) in Derwood is the final resting place for Revolutionary War general and Congressman Jeremiah Crabb and his family.  HIGGINS CEMETERY in Twinbrook hosts James and Luraner Higgins, their descendants and slaves.  In another Twinbrook cemetery lie the LITTONS, Summers, and their kin.  The MARTINS are buried near Horner’s Lane, and we believe the WOOTTONS are buried somewhere in the Carter Hills neighborhood.   The SMITHS are buried in the woods behind Glenview.