[2] Over 65,000 individuals are buried or memorialized at the cemetery, including many who helped form the nation and Washington, D.C., in the early 19th century.

Located about a mile and a half (2.4 km) to the southeast of the U.S. Capitol Building, the cemetery is historically associated with the U.S.

The cemetery is the resting place of one vice president, one Supreme Court justice, six Cabinet members, nineteen senators, 71 U.S.

Representatives, including a former speaker of the House, veterans from every American war, and J. Edgar Hoover, the first FBI director.

The cenotaphs, designed by Benjamin Latrobe, each have a large square block with recessed panels set on a wider plinth and surmounted by a conical point.

Finally, the cemetery reached its current extent of 35.75 acres by growing south to Water Street Southeast with blocks 1106 and 1117 in 1869.

However, protracted environmental litigation halted construction at Pennsylvania Avenue, with the dead end of the freeway being connected by a temporary road to the RFK parking lot and to 17th Street Southeast at the southwest corner of the cemetery.

Nevertheless, many wealthy Washingtonians continued to bury family members there, and figures associated with the government who were local residents, including Marine Corps Band director John Philip Sousa and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, are buried there.

Jim Oliver, then assistant manager of the House Republican Cloakroom, became involved in the late 1980s and helped revive congressional interest in the cemetery.

The K-9 Corps, a group of dog owners whose activities helped drive away the drug dealers, was organized in 1997.

[15][16] The APHCC now hosts over 1,000 volunteers each year working on a wide variety of projects, including planting bulbs, resetting tombstones, pruning trees, adopting and landscaping individual plots, providing research, and writing a quarterly newsletter.

Events hosted by the APHCC have included free guided tours on Saturdays, Christmas caroling, Christ Church's Easter services, book signings, Pride 5k race and Dead Man's Run 5k race, Day of the Dog Festival, and Ghosts & Goblets Gala.

The mapping project was to be completed in the spring of 2014, and the cemetery said it would use the results to release a mobile phone app which will allow users to search for and locate graves on their own.

[20] Of the 186 contributing objects, 168 are the nearly identical Congressional cenotaphs, believed to have been designed by the Architect of the Capitol Benjamin Latrobe.

Cenotaphs were discontinued in 1876 after Massachusetts Senator George Frisbie Hoar stated that "the thought of being buried beneath one of those atrocities brought new terror to death.

After a 1972 plane crash in which their bodies were lost, Hale Boggs and Nicholas Begich share a cenotaph.

[21] The Public Vault is an early classical revival structure built from 1832 to 1834 with federal funds to store the bodies of government officials prior to burial.

Double wrought iron doors have the words "PUBLIC VAULT" displayed by means of vent holes.

[20] Temporary residents of this vault have included three U.S. presidents: John Quincy Adams (1848), William Henry Harrison (1841), and Zachary Taylor (1850).

Lewis Powell is believed to have spent a night in the vault while avoiding pursuit for his role in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

These funerals featured long formal processions starting at the White House or the Capitol, moving down Pennsylvania Avenue to E Street SE, and then to the cemetery.

We respectfully celebrate the legacy of those interred here through education, historic preservation, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.

In addition to their membership dues, K-9 Corps members pay a fee for the privilege of walking their dogs.

Dog walkers follow a set of rules and regulations and provide valuable volunteer time to restore the cemetery.