Forest Lawn Cemetery

An official Path Through History Site! As one of the first deliberately designed and professionally landscaped rural cemeteries in the United States, Forest Lawn’s first interment took place in 1850. Today there are 162,000+ permanent residents in this 269-acre, not-for-profit cemetery serving all faiths. Buried here are U.S. President Millard Fillmore, 47 Buffalo mayors, Seneca Indian Chief Red Jacket, Shirley Chisholm (the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress), Mary Burnett Talbert (civil rights pioneer who formed the Niagara Movement which become the NAACP) and many others. Listed on the State and National Registries of Historic Places, Forest Lawn is also at the heart of Western New York’s cultural tourism renaissance. Each year, it plays host to thousands of visitors who come to enjoy unmatched natural beauty - hills, valleys, lakes, streams and sculptural masterpieces (including the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Blue Sky Mausoleum). Most importantly, the stories of those who now rest in peace under Forest Lawn’s care - from foreign royalty, to captains of industry, artists, inventors, veterans from every U.S. conflict since the Revolutionary War and people like us who have quietly built the community that we and our families enjoy. Each story told through expansive archives and genealogical resources of the Margaret L. Wendt Archive and Resource Center and through Forest Lawn’s award-winning tours, concerts, lectures and special events.