National Cemetery Administration

Visitation Hours: Open daily from dawn to dusk.

Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays.

This cemetery has space available to accommodate casketed and cremated remains.

Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran.

Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.

» Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery

Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.

For information on scheduled burials in our national cemeteries, please go to the Daily Burial Schedule.

In the event you are unable to reach Camp Nelson National Cemetery, please call Lebanon National Cemetery at 270-692-3390 and someone will assist you.

Military Funeral Honors
Military Funeral Honors may be obtained through your local funeral home.

If a funeral home is not involved in your arrangements, please call our office and one of our staff members will assist you in arranging for Military Funeral Honors.

For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.

Camp Nelson National Cemetery is not responsible for any items left at gravesites.

Floral arrangements (up to six) accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed gravesite by cemetery staff. Natural cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing.

Temporary metal containers, provided by the cemetery, are available at various sites on cemetery grounds. Please limit one per gravesite. Cemetery provided floral containers are the only floral containers allowed in the cemetery. Perma-vases are not permitted nor are they sold at Camp Nelson.

Artificial flowers and/or potted plants, in unbreakable containers only (cardboard, plastic, metal), are permitted on gravesites from October 10 until April 15. They will also be permitted on graves 10 days before and 10 days after Easter Sunday and Memorial Day.

Items are subject to removal on the first and third Fridays during mowing season, and depending on the added frequency of mowing more often, up to twice a week. Depending on the growing season, artificial flowers/potted plants may removed to accommodate the early mowing season, up to twice per week.

Christmas wreaths, grave blankets, and related arrangements will be permitted on graves from December 1 until January 20. Grave floral blankets may not be larger than two by three feet, please do not wrap them in plastic, as it destroys the turf.

Floral items and other decorations may not be attached to headstones or markers. Floral stands and saddles are prohibited.

Pets are prohibited in the cemetery.

National Cemeteries are not recreational parks, they are national shrines. Jogging, running or other recreational activities is not allowed.

Unauthorized decorations such as permanent plantings, statues, vigil lights, upright metal flag holders, and breakable objects of any kind and similar commemorative items are not permitted on the gravesites or on the monuments.

Understanding that families may desire to keep certain floral arrangements, we have in place a procedure that, upon the family's written request, cemetery personnel will place the arrangement in a designated location for 30 days, after which, arrangements will be disposed of.

The staff at Camp Nelson National Cemetery want to thank you for your cooperation in helping us to make this cemetery a national shrine, a final resting place of Honor and Dignity in memory of the veterans of this great nation.

Camp Nelson National Cemetery is located about seven miles southeast of Nicholasville in Jessamine County, KY. In 1866, the U.S. government appropriated approximately eight acres here to establish a cemetery. Of the original tract, about seven acres became the cemetery proper and the remainder formed a driveway extending from the main entrance to the old Danville Turnpike. An additional acre was purchased in 1874 that adjoined the southeast corner of the cemetery.

During the Civil War, Camp Nelson had an important role in supplying the U.S. Army, caring for the sick and wounded and acting as an enlistment station for African-American soldiers. The post was established in 1863 and contained numerous shops for blacksmith work and the construction of wagons and ambulances, as well as buildings for storing supplies and artillery equipment. Camp Nelson included barracks, headquarters buildings and a 700-bed hospital. There were three types of medical facilities on the post: a hospital for military prisoners; an acute general hospital; and the rehabilitation unit. In addition, Camp Nelson served as a major center for the recruitment of black soldiers of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). After the war, the base was designated an official refugee camp by the federal government and placed under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.

By 1863, the Army had selected a small plot of land next to the hospital as a graveyard for the men who died at Camp Nelson. Life at the military camp was often harsh and men fell victim to disease and common illnesses. A total of 379 men were buried here, designated Graveyard No. 1, between June 1863 and July 1865. A second area, Graveyard No. 2, was later added; it is the present location of the national cemetery. According the cemetery records, approximately 1,180 men were buried here by February 1866.

After the end of the Civil War, the federal government initiated a program to locate and reinter Union dead in national cemeteries. As a result, in June and July 1868, a total of 2,023 remains were removed from areas in Kentucky such as Frankfort, Richmond, London and Covington and reinterred at Camp Nelson National Cemetery. Because of the camp's significance as a USCT recruiting base, a large number of these soldiers are interred at Camp Nelson. The remains of Confederate prisoners of war originally buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetery were all removed, either to the Confederate lot in the cemetery at Nicholasville or local private cemeteries. With the exception of two graves removed from Covington and alleged to be Confederate soldiers, there are no Confederates interred at Camp Nelson.

The cemetery has been substantially expanded, although the historic section is enclosed by a stone wall and features a fully restored superintendent's lodge built in 1870. Camp Nelson National Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Monuments and Memorials
The Daughters of the Union erected a granite monument dedicated in the memory of Union Soldiers who fought in the Civil War around 1995.