Mount Moriah Cemetery (Philadelphia): Difference between revisions

'''Mount Moriah Cemetery''' is a historic [[rural cemetery]] that spans the border between [[Southwest Philadelphia]] and [[Yeadon, Pennsylvania]].  It was established in 1855 and is the largest cemetery in Pennsylvania. It is 200 acres in size and contains 150,000 burials. It differed from Philadelphia's other rural cemeteries such as [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]] and the [[The Woodlands (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)|Woodlands Cemetery]] in that it was easily accessible by [[Tram|streetcar]]; allowed burials of African-Americans, Jews and Muslims;<ref name=Hatmaker>{{cite web |last1=Hatmaker |first1=Julia |title=Inside the formerly abandoned Mt. Moriah Cemetery: Cool Spaces |url=https://www.pennlive.com/life/2017/10/inside_the_formerly_abandoned_1.html |website=www.pennlive.com |date=31 October 2017 |access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref> and catered to a more middle-class clientele.{{sfn|Keels|2003|p=49}}

The cemetery closed its gates in April 2011 and had no owner when the last member of the board of directors died.  It became wildly overgrown with vegetation, was a site for illegal dumping, and the buildings, graves and monuments fell into disrepair.  A non-profit organization called ''The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery'' formed to clear overgrown brush, maintain graves, stabilize the crumbling gatehouse and raise money for a petition to place the cemetery on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The Orphans Court of Philadelphia granted a second organization, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation, a receivership in 2014.