Holy Trinity Catholic Church established Holy Rood as its parish cemetery in 1832. The six-and-a-half acre cemetery is located at 2126 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, on a hillside just north of Georgetown, about a mile from the church.
There are more than 7,000 burials of parishioners and others at Holy Rood, including Revolutionary and Civil War veterans. There are also European immigrants and African Americans, some who were enslaved and their free descendants, who helped build the city. The cemetery was closed to further burials in 1985.
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Georgetown University (owner of the cemetery) and the Archdiocese of Washington agreed on a plan in 2018 to restore Holy Rood and ensure its good upkeep. The agreement allows Holy Trinity to build a columbarium at the cemetery for the remains of parishioners, University alumni, faculty and staff, those who have ancestors interred at Holy Rood, and others. The plan also establishes a Perpetual Care Endowment to maintain the cemetery and columbarium.
Through this work, we honor those buried at Holy Rood and offer a final resting place for current parishioners and others for generations to come.