Wildwood Cemetery (Pennsylvania)


Wildwood Cemetery is a cemetery located in Loyalsock Township, Pennsylvania just north of the city of Williamsport. Established in 1863 as the main cemetery for Williamsport and its surrounding communities. The cemetery is nestled in an area of rolling hills and valleys. With a size of 340 acres it is the largest cemetery by size and grave count in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.
The cemetery is split in two by Cemetery Drive. The cemetery is split into East and West Wildwood, in East Wildwood is the cemeteries crematorium, offices and all of the larger public mausoleum. In West Wildwood is the military memorial and monument as well as the Praying Hands mausoleum.
The cemetery has an "escape burial hatch". Thomas Pursell, a local firefighter, wanted a burial arrangement for which he or his family could escape in case they were prematurely burial. The resulting set-up was heavily documented in the news in Williamsport and the surrounding areas. There have been six other such hatched built in surrounding cemeteries based on Pursell's original.

Notable people buried at Wildwood