Laurel Hill Cemetery opened in 1836 on a bluff above the Schuylkill River and quickly became the most fashionable place to be buried in Philadelphia. The result, nearly two centuries later, is one of the great repositories of Victorian funerary architecture in America — a National Historic Landmark where the monuments to captains of industry, Civil War generals, and prominent Philadelphia families compete in ambition if not in taste. The views of the river and Fairmount Park from the ridge are genuinely beautiful.
The cemetery hosts walking tours that cover both the architectural history and the remarkable variety of people buried here — from Charles Goodyear (who vulcanized rubber and died broke) to the victims of early 19th-century yellow fever epidemics. It remains an active cemetery as well as a historic site, which gives it a quality that museum re-creations lack: it is still doing what it was built to do. The grounds are open to the public during daylight hours, and the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery organize events including a famous Halloween tour that is worth booking months in advance.