Loudon Park Cemetery

FYI: This review doesn’t have to do so much with the services of the company that runs the cemetery. It has to do with visiting the cemetery.
I think it’s pretty easy to say that most people would not think of cemeteries as a place to visit unless they are their to lay a loved one to rest or to visit the grave site of a loved one. But if you’re looking to take an interesting look at history and art then a cemetery might be a place to visit. I should note i do have relatives buried here. However i am several generations removed from them.
Loudon Park is the largest of the cemeteries within the city limits of Baltimore, but it’s probably the third most historic, after Westminster Burial Grounds and Green Mount. But that’s not to say you won’t find historical figures or names from Baltimore’s past or great sculpture in it. More than likely if your family has far-​reaching roots in Baltimore City, you probably have an ancestor or two buried here.
If you do have ancestors buried here the first place you want to start is the administration building on Wilkens Ave, where the current main entrance is (the historic main entrance is off of Frederick Rd and it’s not always open). This building also serves as a funeral home as well, so you might want to keep that in mind. At the least they should be able to provide you a map of Loudon. They have in the past, i haven’t asked recently, been willing to pull up records for me for small request. For larger ones i would recommend writing down what you are looking for and providing contact information so they can send it to you when they find it.
The cemetery its self is separated into 3 main sections (some would say four but i’m leaving out the adjacent Loudon National Cemetery even though it’s adjacent, as there is no direct connection between the two, w/​o climbing over a fence, and Loudon National is managed by the Federal Government as a Veterans Cemetery). A lower, central, and upper section.
In general as you travel from the Wilkens Ave side to the Frederick Ave side, the dates of the burials go further and further back. Also the ornateness and number of monuments increase, not only in number but also in size (and there are some very large ones. Also note that the terrain also changes, from a more gentle rolling one to a more hilly one. It’s also a pretty good distance from the Frederick Ave entrance to the administration building, something i learned the hard way on my first visit.
Among those buried at Loudon include Mary Pickersgill who was commissioned to make the Star Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry in the War of 1812, Ottmar Mergenthaler the inventor of the Linotype machine which ushered in the modern age of printing, noted journalist H. L. Mencken, and Charles Joseph Bonaparte (former US Attorney General who my family has a personal connect to) and his father Jerome Bonaparte whom if you haven’t figured out are related to Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Their is also a family tomb (Weiskittel-​Roehle Burial Vault) that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
My recommendation, take a camera, get a map, see if you have relatives their and/​or explore how we used to moralize our relatives, you might be oddly suprised hot intresting a visit it might be.