WTF is the Difference Between a Cemetery and a Graveyard?

Cemetery vs. Graveyard

Although we use the words graveyard and cemetery interchangeably to refer to a burial site, in actuality, they’re not the same thing. Graveyards, also called churchyards, are sacred burial grounds on a church’s property. When a member of the church’s congregation or parish dies, they’re buried in the graveyard.

A cemetery is an independent burial ground. It’s nondenominational, meaning that anyone can be buried there, regardless of religious faith. This makes residents of cemeteries quite a diverse bunch.

What About Denominational Cemeteries?

Let’s complicate things a bit, shall we? As always in life, there are exceptions to the rule. Some modern-day cemeteries are denominational, reserving burials for people of a specific religion. They are still cemeteries, though, and not graveyards, because they are not associated with a specific church.

Catholic cemeteries are a prime example because they’re consecrated (sacred) grounds that serve the entire Catholic community in a given area rather than a particular parish. Dioceses are responsible for establishing and managing these cemeteries.

Another example is Jewish cemeteries, which, of course, inter only members of the Jewish faith. They adhere to Jewish burial customs and religious rites, and the ground is sacred. Many nondenominational cemeteries also include a Jewish section, creating a mini-cemetery within a cemetery.

Similarly, Islamic cemeteries inter only Muslims. Many have a mosque on site, typically built as a later addition and for funerary purposes only.

Finally, don’t get confused if you see a chapel in a nondenominational cemetery. They’re primarily used for funeral services and aren’t associated with a specific church.

Summary of Differences

Okay, let’s recap. Graveyards are on church grounds; cemeteries are not. As a result, most graveyards are kind of small, while cemeteries tend to be pretty big. Graveyards are Christian, and most cemeteries are non-denominational, although cemeteries for specific religious groups do exist. Makes sense? Cool.

Graveyard Origin Story

So, when did graveyards become a thing? Tradition tells us that in 7th-century Europe, the Catholic Church established graveyards for Christian burials on holy ground. Historians believe the practice was common by 752 CE in England. Churches buried regular ole parishioners outside in their churchyards, usually without coffins.¹ Yikes.

The more important, i.e., wealthy, families were buried inside the church in crypts or sarcophagi above ground. As usual, the poor people got the short end of the stick and were dumped outside. Their resting places were temporary, however. As the population grew throughout the Middle Ages, churches ran out of room in their graveyards. So, they’d disinter people’s remains to make room for new residents. Um…ew.

Bones to Pick

WTF did they do with the remains, you ask? Well, they’d take the bones and put them in charnel pits or charnel chapels, which were basically bone storage. A house o’ bones, if you will. Charnel Chapels, also called ossuaries, are wild. The most famous is the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, which made decorative art pieces out of human bones. Yeah…they even have a chandelier of bones. How can I get one for my house?

Burials in graveyards continued up to the 19^th century. Around this time, the cemetery experienced a revival and largely replaced graveyards as the burial site of choice.

Cemetery Origin Story

Cemeteries have been around for thousands of years. The following are some ancient examples:

1. Gebel Ramla Cemetery in the early 5^th millennium BCE in Egypt. Archaeologists discovered grave pits with human remains and burial goods.
2. The Royal Cemetery at Ur, a Sumerian city in Southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). It contained about 1,850 graves dating between 2600-2500 BCE.²
3. Abydos Cemeteries in ancient Egypt, which had fields of burials in underground tombs and simple internments in the ground.
4. Kerameikos Cemetery in ancient Athens, Greece. Burials date from the early Bronze Age to the Roman period. Fun fact: the word “cemetery” comes from the Greek Koimeterion, which means “sleeping place.”³

Reviving the Cemetery

As the 19^th century saw more population growth and movement of people, graveyards filled up even faster. A solution to a never-ending stream of dead bodies and no space to bury them was sorely needed. Enter the Victorian garden-like cemetery we have today. These cemeteries are beautiful, landscaped sites resembling public parks. In fact, the same professional architects and landscapers responsible for our parks designed cemeteries. During the 19^th century, cemeteries were typically located on the outskirts of an urban settlement. As the 20^th century saw urban areas expanding and suburbs developing, cemeteries once on the fringes became a fixture in our residential areas.

One of the most famous cemeteries, and the one that kicked off the garden-like atmosphere, is the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. Napoleon established it in 1804, and French Architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart designed it. Located east of Paris, it’s home to the remains of over 1 million people on approximately 110 acres.

Cemeteries in the United States

As in Europe, the United States had the problem of way too many dead bodies to deal with. The overcrowding in graveyards led to polluted water supplies. Body snatching for medical schools practicing autopsies was common. It was a mess, to say the least.

In the late 1820s, Harvard Professor Jacob Bigelow teamed up with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society to establish a cemetery in a woodsy area of Cambridge. The result was Mount Auburn, which opened in 1831. Other U.S. cities took this modern cemetery template and implemented it in their backyards. This ushered in a revival of the cemetery as a popular burial site.

With modern burial practices ever-evolving, it remains to be seen if cemeteries will experience a decline in the years to come.

If you’re interested in exploring cemeteries and graveyards around the globe, check out Loren Rhoads’ book, 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die. This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you.

If you have a favorite graveyard or cemetery, let me know in the comments below.  

Footnotes

1. Evans, Burying the Dead, 25. John Burgess is credited with establishing this date. ↩︎
2. Davies, Janson’s History, 26-27. ↩︎
3. Evans, Burying the Dead, 10. ↩︎

Bibliography & Further Reading:

*These links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you.

Davies, Penelope J.E., et. al. Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition. 7^th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2007.

Evans, Lorraine. Burying the Dead: An Archaeological History of Burial Grounds, Graveyards, and Cemeteries. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword History, 2020.

Melville, Greg. Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries. New York: Abrams Press, 2022.

Pedley, John Griffiths. Greek Art and Archaeology. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012.