Hollywood Cemetery Richmond, Virginia

The Hollywood Cemetery overlooks the city of Richmond and the James River. It is the resting place of many historic figures of American History, and the south, including two presidents. James Monroe, the fifth President of the USA, died in New York in 1831, on the 4th of July (the third president, after Jefferson and Adams, to die on the nation's birthday). In 1858 he was disinterred and brought to the Hollywood Cemetery with much ceremony and fanfare. An ornate gothic revival cage was constructed as a tomb, as if to make sure he wouldn’t get away again. John Tyler, the tenth president of the USA is also buried here. He died in a hotel room in Richmond, in 1862, during the Civil War. Though he already had a spot picked out for himself to be buried at his beloved plantation, Sherwood Forest, it was at the time occupied by the Union Army, and since Tyler was a Confederate, his body could not be brought home. Nor was his death officially recognized in Washington. Instead, his coffin was draped in a Confederate flag, and he was buried in Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy, in the Hollywood Cemetery.