Congressional Cemetery

Photographer Carol Highsmith took this photograph of Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., in 2010. At the time of the cemetery’s creation in 1807 it had no official association with the U.S. Congress. However, from 1807 to the mid 1830s nearly every member of Congress who died in Washington was interred there, leading the vestry of Christ Church to set aside burial sites for members of Congress. Eventually the government acquired more gravesites, and the cemetery came to be known as Congressional Cemetery. Today more than 55,000 people are buried at Congressional Cemetery, a mix of members of Congress, military and government officials, and ordinary U.S. citizens.