Who We Are
Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery
Friends of the SLC Cemetery partners with stakeholders including religious institutions, the private sector, local residents and government entities to preserve and protect this cultural treasure as a place of peaceful reflection, community engagement, and vital historical learning.
The Governing Board holds bimonthly meetings via Zoom. The next scheduled meeting is 8 January 2026. To contact us, please email slcemeteryfriends@gmail.com
Get Involved
Join Us At Any Event!
POST MEMORIAL DAY CLEAN UP
Wed, Thur, and Sat,
JUNE 4, 5, and 7. 2025
Again this year, the Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery hosted our annual Post Memorial Day Clean up. Over 200 volunteers helped pickup and separate out recyclable materials.
Each year, in observance of Memorial Day, visitors to the Salt Lake City Cemetery place potted plants, flowers, and other memorabilia around the graves of their loved ones. Once the flowers and plants have died, they need to be removed. In previous years, we have diverted between 8 and 10 tons of recyclables and compostable waste from the landfill.
Please mark your calendars for next year’s clean up, tentatively scheduled for June 3, 4, and 6, 2026!
FALL TREE PLANTING
Saturday November 15 2025
Thanks to everyone volunteered! We had great weather and a great group of volunteers, including Mayor Mendenhall. This was a great way to plant the last of the trees to replace those lost in the windstorm.
In September of 2020, a huge windstorm blew through Salt Lake City and knocked down over 270 trees in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The Cemetery was closed for over 6 months while staff determined the damage and mitigated potentially unsafe conditions from the fallen trees. In November of 2021, the Cemetery received accreditation as an Arboretum, which was named the Mark Smith Memorial Arboretum, after the long-time Sexton who died in 2019.
Since that time, volunteers have replanted over 250 trees. Which means at this upcoming event, we will have replaced all the trees lost in the windstorm. These efforts have been led by the Friends of the Salt Lake City and Salt Lake City’s Urban Forestry Department. These trees include many different species which help contribute to the overall diversity and health of the Arboretum and the Cemetery’s forest. While these trees cannot match the size and scope of the ones that were lost, they will make a difference in the future.
Although we have replaced the trees lost in the windstorm, there will be more opportunities to plant trees in the future. Check back next Spring when we’ll be planning a Spring event.
Fund Raising
The Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery was formed in 2021 as a 501c3 charitable organization that has supported raising funds and encouraging appropriations which have led to some significant restorations of aging infrastructure. In addition to advocacy, as an organization we have helped to organize tree planting projects, annual cemetery cleanups following Memorial Day and working with other groups to help maintain and improve the cemetery. We would love your help with these future opportunities.
We invite your help in making a charitable contribution that will assist us in the efforts mentioned above as well as helping us to raise funds for a required study to nominate the cemetery to the National Register of Historical Places. Your contribution of $50, $100 or $250 will help us continue this work and in the future help us as we look to providing public amenities and wayfinding materials for visitors to the cemetery. Please click on the donations button above to go to our secure donations page.
Our Board’s efforts are purely as volunteers with minimal administrative costs, so your contribution will go further in helping us to support the cemetery masterplan and work to improve this great community asset of culture, open space and peace.
Cemetery Sustainability Champions
ONGOING
Understanding the fascinating irrigation system The irrigation system at the Cemetery is unique. In fact, it utilizes large golf course style broadcasting rotors on the edges of the plats. This style of rotor can spray very long distances. Why is this needed? Because the presence of burials prevents irrigation piping from being run through the plats. Sometimes, this results in spray across internal Cemetery roadways. Wherever possible, cemetery staff have eliminated as many of these locations as feasible
Not all land is Salt Lake City Cemetery land
There are two areas inside the Salt Lake City Cemetery that are not owned or maintained by Salt Lake City: located on the South side of the Cemetery. These areas use their own water connections and irrigation systems for control.
Questions on boundaries, view map.
The Perpetual Needs of Perpetual Care
Ongoing
Each time a grave is sold in the cemetery, the cemetery enters a contract for Perpetual Care of the property of the grave. This contract guarantees the purchaser proper care of, and a manicured landscape, within the cemetery grounds, particularly the turf on top of the graves. Imagine how complicated this becomes when we experience drought. We have been experiencing drought conditions for the last several years. Projects indicate that the record snow year of 2023, have not alleviated the drought conditions. Please understand this delicate turf balance. We appreciate the cemetery staff’s constant efforts maintaining the turf to a condition that ensures the cemetery is a comfortable place to visit loved ones while keeping water conservation a top priority and not overwatering.
TREES, TREES, EVERYWHERE…plus turf!
One of many valuable assets at the cemetery is the vast number of trees scattered throughout the Cemetery. In fact, due to the number of tree species present in the Cemetery, the Cemetery was recently accredited as an arboretum. These trees provide valuable habitat, increase the urban forest canopy, reduce run off, reduce the urban heat island effect, and absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide, storing it as carbon. WOW! Trees require water to stay alive and healthy. Ensuring good watering also helps the trees fight against bark beetles, which has been a prevalent problem in the cemetery over the past several years. While turfgrass can withstand going without much water and bounce back later, trees cannot and will either die or suffer lifelong impacts with underwatering. Due to the nature of the irrigation system in the Cemetery, it is not possible to water just the trees!
Next Steps
Lots of Ways to Get Involved.
Contact Us
Utah Cemetery Burial Database
Connect
Volunteer
Groups
Names In Stone Burial Records
Donate
Map
Call or Email Cemetery
F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I care about the Cemetery?
The Salt Lake City Cemetery is a state historical and cultural treasure and irreplaceable urban forest. It’s the largest municipal cemetery in the U.S. with more than 125,000 burials, the oldest dating to 1848. Many Utah leaders are interred or memorialized here, including 5 Utah Governors, 12 Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, along with thousands of US. Armed Forces veterans, Utahns who have donated their bodies to science and numerous prisoners and unidentified individuals from across Utah. It was also recently given status as a Nationally accredited arboretum. Tens of thousands of visitors from all over the U.S. come each year to visit family memorials, enjoy the beautiful park-like setting and directly connect with Utah’s rich and diverse history.
Where can I find individual’s gravesites?
The Cemetery staff have records and maps of all the burials. You can find the records on line at the Cemetery’s website
Are gravesites still available?
Remaining sites are very limited. Please contact the Cemetery directly.
Why do the sprinklers water the roadways?
Cemetery staff make every effort to make the irrigation system as efficient as possible. But sometimes, sprinkler heads may break or become misaligned. Since most of the watering is done in the evenings and early mornings, the Staff may not be aware of any problems. Please report any issues to the Cemetery office. more>
What famous people are buried in the Cemetery?
Many famous (and infamous) people are buried in the Cemetery from pioneer days until modern times. Politicians (including 5 governors, 5 Senators), Prophets (12 Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ), Business Leaders, and others. A list of many of these figures can be found on the Cemetery website.
How can I donate?
Donations are accepted for the Friends organization, as well as those that directly support the Cemetery. Donate now.
How can I volunteer?
Our major volunteer activity is the post-Memorial Day Clean-up.
If I donate, can I make a memorial?
All donations will receive a letter recognizing the contribution. Depending on the donation, it may be possible to have a memorial plaque on site.
Can I donate directly to the Cemetery? Or do I need to go through the Friends organization?
The Friends group has worked with the City to streamline the donation process. Donations made to the Friends are tax deductible.
About Us
The main goals of the Friends group are to advocate for the cemetery, to engage the public in its history and upkeep, and to help identify and secure funding sources to address some of the needs in the Cemetery’s Master Plan, which was adopted by the City Council in October 2020.
Join the cause
The Friends group works closely with the City’s Public Lands division to identify a number of future volunteer activities to ensure the longevity of this local and national treasure. If you are interested in learning more about the Friends group, or if you have specific expertise that you feel could benefit the Friends group, please complete the form below
A Non-Profit Group
Friends Of The Salt Lake City Cemetery was formed as a non-profit 501c3 organization to help Salt Lake City with managing the largest municipal cemetery in the United States. The cemetery dates back to the mid-1800's when 120 acres were set aside as a permanent city cemetery. The first burial was September 27, 1848.