Woodland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot
Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Closed Federal Holidays except Memorial Day.
Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
This soldiers' lot is closed to interments.
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.
From the West (Toledo, Sandusky, Elyria): Take Interstate 90 East toward Cleveland, Ohio, Exit 1a. Interstate 90 East becomes Interstate 490 East for two miles. Turn left on East 55th Street for ½ mile. Turn right onto Woodland Avenue for ½ mile to cemetery.
From the East (Mentor, Pennsylvania): Take Interstate 90 West towards Cleveland, Ohio. Merge onto Interstate 77 South exit 172a towards Akron. Take exit 162a toward Woodlawn Avenue/East 30th. Go straight on Orange Avenue OH-87 South. Turn slight left onto OH-87 South (Woodland Avenue) to Cemetery 1¼ miles.
From the South (Columbus, Akron): Take Interstate 71 North towards Cleveland, Ohio. Merge onto Interstate 490 East via exit 247a. Turn left on East 55th Street for ½ mile. Turn right onto Woodland Avenue for ½ mile to cemetery.
The soldiers' lot is located in Section 10 and Section 14.
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.
The private and community cemeteries that contain NCA soldiers' and government lots, and Confederate cemeteries, do not always have staffed offices on site. When administrative information for the larger cemetery is available, it is provided below.
Woodland Cemetery
Phone: (216) 348-7217
Website: http://portal.cleveland-oh.gov/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/ParksRecreationandProperties/Cemeteries
NOTE: Link will take you outside the VA website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website.
This soldiers' lot is overseen by Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.
Please contact the national cemetery for more information.
For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.
Floral regulations are not available for this cemetery.
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
Woodland Cemetery is located in Cleveland, Ohio, on the east side of the Cuyahoga River. Founded in 1853, Woodland was one of many rural cemeteries built throughout the United States as part of the rural cemetery movement of the mid-19th century. The name “Woodland” came from an imaginative description of the city by Thomas Campbell, a Scottish poet who never visited Cleveland. The cemetery was laid out by Howard Daniels, a notable New York landscape architect who also designed Spring Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati and Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. For many years after its inception, Woodland served as Cleveland's largest public cemetery, as well as open space for a city lacking in parks. Streetcars ran regularly to Woodland Cemetery, which served as the final resting place for many prominent local citizens. Today the cemetery retains most of its original 60 acres and it is owned by the City of Cleveland.
Woodland Cemetery Soldiers' Lot is comprised of two separate parcels that the federal government purchased in 1868 for the Civil War dead. Section 14, lot 48, contains 16 graves in an area measuring 28 feet by 23 feet. Section 10, lots 59 and 60, contain 32 graves in an area 40 feet by 16 feet. The first interments were the remains of 27 Union soldiers removed from West Side Cemetery, Cleveland. There is an unrelated group of Civil War-era burials around the cemetery's central flagpole, but these are not administered by NCA.
Woodland Cemetery, including the soldiers' lot, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 1986.
Under Development.
More than half of VA's national cemeteries originated with the Civil War and many are closed to some burials. Other sites were established to serve World War veterans and they continue to expand. Historic themes related with NCA's cemeteries and soldiers' lots vary, but visitors should understand "Why is it here?" NCA began by installing interpretive signs, or waysides, at more than 100 properties to observe the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011–2015). Please follow the links below to see the interpretive signs for Woodland Soldiers' Lot.
Visit the Veterans Legacy Program and NCA History Program for additional information. Thank you for your interest.
