J. Edgar Hoover's grave at Congressional Cemetery

The first thing I noticed when I walked through the iron gates of the Congressional Cemetery in southeast Washington was: There are a lot of dogs running around. The second thing was: Wow, this place is huge.

It turns out the 202-year-old, 33-acre cemetery holds 55,000 dead people and up to 600 dogs. The latter is the number of pets who are officially registered to walk here. As a non-dog person, it seemed odd to me to see all the dogs and their walkers cavorting, oblivious to the history and the departed souls around them. Plus, of course, some dogs were peeing on the stones.

But, according to the Kojo Nnamdi radio show on WAMU recently, we have dog owners to thank for the ongoing restoration of the cemetery. Patrick Crowley, chair of the board of directors of the non-profit cemetery association, said that in the late 1980s, the site was overgrown with weeds, dead trees, and drug dealers. He walked his St. Bernard there frequently and began shoveling out the muck himself, partly to keep his dog from eating it, and enlisted fellow dog owners to help him. Then the pet owners began taxing themselves $25 a year to help pay for the upkeep of the cemetery. The restoration is not complete, but most of the cemetery is in good shape.

So, enough about the dogs, many famous people are buried there. You can take a docent-led tour on Saturdays, or do your own cell-phone tour:

• John Philip Sousa, composer of The Stars and Stripes Forever and other wonderful marches, director of the U.S. Marine Band. Every year on Sousa’s birthday, Nov. 6, the Marine Band plays a concert at his grave site.
• Mathew Brady, Civil War photographer.
• Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, Vice President under James Madison, and the person for whom the term “gerrymander” is named.
• J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, who ran the agency with an iron hand for 50 years until his death in 1972.
• Hoover’s close friend, Clyde Tolson, who inherited Hoover’s estate. However, despite what it says on StraightDope.com, Tolson is not buried “side by side” with Hoover.
  
  
  
  

  Monuments for 19th-century entertainment entrepreneur Mary Hall and her family

• Mary Hall, a 19th-century madam who ran a popular, well-appointed house near Capitol Hill with 18 women employees. In addition to her family plots, she also bought nine other plots in the cemetery for unrelated men.
• Leonard Matlovich: a gay Vietnam veteran whose tombstone reads: “When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

And, get this, YOU TOO can be buried at Congressional Cemetery! Here’s the pitch:

“As the final resting place for scores of American patriots, Congressional Cemetery offers a unique opportunity to ‘rub shoulders’ with the founders of our nation, the builders of our nation’s capitol, the great orators of Congress, gallant soldiers who died for our liberty, and many of the artists and writers who helped define the culture of America.”

A plot costs around $4,000, plus the costs of digging the hole and erecting the stone. Congressional Cemetery also offers “green” burial (no embalming fluid, no concrete vault), the only cemetery in DC, Washington or Maryland to do so. Spend eternity in the company of innocents, rogues and Congressmen!

See more photos on Flickr