Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.)

A cemetery originally occupied what is now the site of the 1851 church and the Lower School.[1] This informal burying ground was established long before Holy Trinity Church bought its land.[7] In June 1796, an additional 20 feet (6.1 m) of land west of the church was purchased, and by 1798 the church owned all the ground west to 36th Street.[8] Many of the graves were relocated in 1817 when the burying ground closed, but by as late as 1917 (when Lower School was built) hundreds of them still remained.[9] Over time, nearly all the markers have been removed.[1]

In 1998, Holy Trinity Church began construction on an addition in what was believed to be open space on its land. On October 21, a skull and some small bones were unearthed.[10] District of Columbia law required a forensic anthropological investigation, and one began immediately. The investigation turned up the remains of 44 individuals (men, women, and children). Evidence indicated that some of them had been buried as early as 1837 while others dated to 1865, and at least one was an African American; these were reinterred in another cemetery. Archeologists believed, however, that additional remains still existed. But with each day of delay adding $10,000 to the cost of construction, Church officials decided graves that would be undisturbed by the project – such as those beneath the basement – should remain where they were.[1]

In 1818, Holy Trinity Church established a new burying ground on the north side of P Street NW at its intersection with 37th Street NW, adjacent to what is now Georgetown University's Maguire Hall. This cemetery was known as Trinity Burial Ground and the Old Burying Ground, but it was most commonly called College Ground.[11] The first burial occurred there on December 8, 1818. At some point, a small chapel dedicated to St. Francis Xavier was also built there. One of the most famous burials at College Ground was that of Susan Decatur, wife of United States Navy hero Stephen Decatur.[1] In 1837, Susan Decatur donated $7,000 to Georgetown University (equivalent to more than $3 million today), which saved the university from financial collapse and closure.[12] A large number of African slaves, many of them owned by institutions (such as the university), were also buried in College Ground.[1]

Based on parish records, the number of graves at College Ground numbered more than a thousand by 1833, when burials there ceased.[1] The cemetery fell into disrepair, with many tombstones and memorials destroyed, removed, or dislocated and placed off to one side. There was so little evidence College Ground once existed that by the early 1930s the land was thought to be vacant. In 1931, Georgetown University began construction on a new dormitory, Copley Hall. When workers began clearing a "vacant lot" 100 feet (30 m) north of the Copley Hall excavation site, they rediscovered College Ground. Embarrassed by its sub-par stewardship of the graveyard, the university agreed to restore and care for the burying ground. But within 20 years, the college's need for land proved greater than its commitment to the cemetery.[13]

In 1953, Georgetown University began preparing College Ground for new buildings. The university publicly said that only 189 sets of remains existed there.[14] Fifty were transferred to Mount Olivet Cemetery,[1] while most of the others were transferred to Holy Trinity Church's Holy Rood Cemetery.[13] (A few were claimed by families, while a handful of others were reinterred in other cemeteries.) Historian Carlton Fletcher believes the 850 or so remaining bodies in College Ground either are still buried there, or were dug up and scattered when the Reiss Science Building (1962) and Edward B. Bunn S.J. Intercultural Center (1982) were excavated.[1]

Holy Rood Cemetery with the Washington Monument in the background

College Ground closed to new burials because Holy Trinity Church acquired a new, larger burying ground in 1832: Holy Rood Cemetery.[1] Originally called the Upper Grave Yard, this cemetery was at the southern terminus of Tunlaw Road NW. It was enlarged in 1853, and a sexton's house constructed at the entrance.[15] The grounds were enlarged again in 1866 and 1867 (to its present size of 6 acres (24,000 m²)), a new sexton's house built, a receiving vault constructed, and a stone wall and new main gate erected on Wisconsin Avenue NW. It was at this time that Upper Grave Yard received the name Holy Rood Cemetery.[16] Under an agreement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore in which Holy Trinity Church's many deeds were consolidated, Georgetown University has held title to Holy Rood Cemetery since 1942.[13] The university closed the cemetery to new burials in 1984 (except for special requests). There are 7,312 known burials there, as well as an unknown number of unidentified pauper's graves.[1] The university attempted to move all remains and use the cemetery for real estate development in 1984, but was stopped after a successful lawsuit by the survivors of people buried there. The university subsequently agreed to keep the cemetery open to visitors. While it abandoned "perpetual care" (the highest degree of maintenance for a cemetery), it agreed to continue minimal mowing, weeding, and other landscaping needs.[13][17]

Following the 1942 agreement, Holy Trinity Church has not maintained a cemetery for parish use. Parishioners rely instead on archdiocesan cemeteries in the area, such as Mount Olivet Cemetery in D.C. or Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland. In 2018, Holy Trinity and Georgetown University have announced a plan to restore Holy Rood Cemetery on Wisconsin Avenue, including repairs to existing infrastructure, enhancements to landscaping, and improvements to the cemetery entrance. The plan will also allow Holy Trinity to build a columbarium at the cemetery.