Mount Moriah Cemetery Soldiers' and Naval Plot

About Mount Moriah Cemetery Soldiers' and Naval Plot

Mount Moriah Soldier's and Naval Plots are the veterans section of the Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Philadelphia was an important hub for the transportation of supplies and troops from the East Coast to the front lines during the Civil War. In addition to arsenals, supply depots and navy yards, Philadelphia also had numerous military hospitals, as well as the U.S. Naval Home—a hospital and residential care facility for sick and disabled sailors.

During the war, the Federal Government acquired a 10 acre parcel of land on the Yeadon Borough side of the Mount Moriah Cemetery as a burial ground for navy and marine personnel. Originally known as the Naval Asylum, the burial plot was intended for soldiers who died in military hospitals or military rest homes. It also houses the remains of those veterans who were disinterred from the grounds of the U.S. Naval Home.

The Mount Moriah Cemetery Association donated a much smaller parcel of land located in the Philadelphia section of Mount Moriah to the Veterans Administration. This burial ground is known as the Soldiers’ Rest and was used for the interment of Civil War soldiers who died in battle or in local hospitals. One of those hospitals was the Summit House, located at 70th and Woodland Avenue, less than a mile from Mount Moriah.

Although located within the privately owned Mount Moriah Cemetery, these two areas of land are owned and maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs.