When walking through the Cemetery, have you ever noticed a family plot bursting with fragrant lavender and rosemary or adorned with roses and lilies? These are the thoughtfully planted Adopt-a-Plots cared for by generous volunteers. Some volunteers are K9 Corps members, future residents, or even Capitol Hill residents interested in a venue to exercise their passion for gardening.
Daniel Holcombe kicked off the program in 2014, and interest has continued to grow.
The Adopt-A-Plot Program is mutually beneficial as an outlet for creativity for volunteers as well as beautifying the Cemetery, adding bursts of color and a caring hand to areas otherwise forgotten as a result of the normal course of time and distancing of descendants. Daniel Holcombe kicked off the program in 2014, and interest has continued to grow. Our program provides individuals, groups, organizations, and companies with the opportunity to play an important and active role in preserving, enhancing, and maintaining Congressional Cemetery’s landscape and grounds.
The objective of our Adopt-a-Plot program to get members of the local community in involved in efforts to revitalize and enhance the numerous cultural and historic resources found in the cemetery, restore the beauty of the grounds, and preserve the landscape for future generations.
Members of the Adopt-a-Plot program will be assigned a family plot to tend to throughout the year. The plots available to be adopted range in size from about ten square feet to up to five hundred square feet. Each of the plots that are available to be adopted are surrounded with a stone coping or a metal fence. If you wish to adopt a plot that does not have stone coping or a fence, then you are responsible for providing metal edging or a small fence to put around the plot to minimize damage to your adopted plot from the lawn mowers and dog walkers.
Volunteers will have access to a variety of gardening tools, water, mulch, and top soil. Our program is fairly flexible, but we ask that you do not plant any vines, invasive species, vegetables, fruits, or trees in the plot that you adopt. Additionally, we ask that no chemicals be used in your adopted plot except when the cemetery is closed to dogs on Saturdays from 10-3.
