Cave Hill Cemetry

What Cave Hill Cemetry does

Cave Hill Cemetery Co Inc is a privately-held, for-profit cemetery company headquartered at 701 Baxter Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky. Chartered by the General Assembly of Kentucky on February 5, 1848, the cemetery operates continuously for over 175 years and contains 120,000+ burials, including 6,100 Union and 228 Confederate soldiers in its National Cemetery portion. The company sells traditional burial lots, mausoleum spaces, cremation memorialization options, and monuments/markers/benches on a one-time purchase model with quote-based pricing obtained through Family Service Advisors.

Beyond core interment services, Cave Hill generates ancillary revenue from historical walking tours, golf cart tours, wagon tours, and educational programs ($15/person donation for civic groups; free for schools), plus professional services such as monument cleaning, permanent flower vase installation, and lot landscaping arranged through the administration office. The grounds also function as a Level II Accredited Arboretum, supporting horticultural tourism and educational programming. The company operates a mobile application for visitor navigation and self-guided tours, maintains a searchable online burial records database, and publishes historical books about the cemetery.

The business is led by President & CEO Gwen Mooney and Senior VP & CFO Chris Rowan, with governance tied to a separate affiliated non-profit, the Cave Hill Heritage Foundation, which funds long-term preservation, grief support programs (Walking Through Grief), and community events. Distribution is exclusively direct-to-consumer at the Louisville grounds, supported by a website, Facebook presence, earned media (PBS, local TV), and community partnerships with Norton Healthcare, Kroger, LG&E, and St. Matthews Baptist Church. The company holds a BBB A+ rating and was recognized as American Cemetery Magazine's Cemetery of the Year in 2021.

Name

Cave Hill Cemetry

Legal name

Cave Hill Cemetery Co Inc

Website

https://cavehillcemetery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1848

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cave Hill Cemetery Co Inc is a privately-held historic cemetery company in Louisville, Kentucky, operating continuously since 1848. It sells burial lots, mausoleums, cremation memorialization, and monuments to Louisville-area families, supplemented by tours, arboretum programs, and grief support services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cemetery and Funeral Services

NAICS

Cemeteries and Crematories (81222), Cemeteries and Crematories (812220), Historical Sites (71212)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Historic Sites, Heritage Landmarks & Archaeological Sites (THAJACAC), Monuments, Statues & Memorials (THAJACAB), Archaeological Sites & Heritage Interpretation Centers (THAJADAG), Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Family Aftercare) (HSABAFAI), Bereavement, Grief & Family Support Services (Hospice-Linked) (HLAFAEAO)

Keywords

• Cemetery burial services
• Cremation memorialization
• Funeral arrangements
• Grief support programs
• Historical cemetery tours

Headquarters

HQ city

Louisville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Burial Services: Sale of traditional burial lots, mausoleum spaces, monuments, markers, and benches. One-time purchase model for cemetery property and memorialization products.
2. Cremation Memorialization: Cremation placement options and related memorialization products and services.
3. Tour and Program Fees: Revenue from historical tours, golf cart tours, and educational programs. School tours free of charge; civic/church/club groups $15 per person donation to Heritage Foundation.
4. Special Services: Special service packages including landscaping, flower and groundcover planting on lots, monument and marker cleaning, permanent flower vases. Special services require estimation and arrangement through administration office.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Cave Hill Cemetery sells traditional burial lots, mausoleum spaces, cremation memorialization, monuments, markers, and benches within its historic 1848-chartered cemetery grounds. It also provides supporting services such as monument/marker cleaning, permanent flower vases, landscaping/grounds-care packages, guided historical tours, an online burial-records search, and bereavement support through the Walking Through Grief program. All offerings are delivered on site to families and visitors at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Product overview

Cave Hill Cemetery operates as a historic rural cemetery offering a portfolio of burial and memorial products including traditional burial lots, mausoleums, cremation memorialization, and monuments/markers. The cemetery provides supplementary services such as monument cleaning and permanent flower vases. For visitors and community engagement, the cemetery offers historical tours (walking, golf cart, and private presentations), a Level II Accredited Arboretum, burial records search database, and a Walking Through Grief bereavement support program. The organization also maintains a mobile application for visitor navigation and publishes historical books about the cemetery's heritage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cave Hill Heritage Foundation: A non-profit foundation dedicated to securing funding for the long-term preservation of Cave Hill Cemetery, offering programs including Walking Through Grief, historical tours, and community events.

Products and services

• Traditional Burial Lots Traditional in-ground burial plots for casketed interments on the historic 1848-chartered Cave Hill Cemetery grounds in Louisville, Kentucky, sold to families as one-time purchases.
• Mausoleums Above-ground entombment structures offering an alternative to traditional ground burial, sold as one-time purchases of mausoleum space at Cave Hill Cemetery.
• Cremation Memorialization Memorial options for cremated remains, including placement of cremation urns within designated sections of Cave Hill Cemetery grounds, sold to families arranging cremation memorialization.
• Monuments, Markers, and Benches Custom and standard monuments, grave markers, and commemorative benches for memorialization of loved ones at Cave Hill Cemetery, sold as one-time product purchases.
• Monument and Marker Cleaning Professional cleaning services for monuments and grave markers to preserve the appearance of memorials on burial lots, arranged through the Cave Hill Cemetery administration office for lot owners.
• Permanent Flower Vases Permanent flower vase installations in various styles available for placement on burial lots at Cave Hill Cemetery, sold to lot owners as a one-time memorialization accessory.
• Special Services (Landscaping and Grounds Care) Specialized cemetery services including landscaping, flower and groundcover planting on designated lots, monument and marker cleaning, and permanent flower vase installation, arranged via estimation through the Cave Hill Cemetery administration office.
• Historical Tours Guided historical walking tours, golf cart tours, wagon tours, and private group presentations covering famous burials, Civil War history, bourbon barons, literary figures, military figures, cemetery symbolism, and other themed topics, offered to visitors and community groups at Cave Hill Cemetery.
• Burial Records Search Online burial records database allowing users to search Cave Hill Cemetery burials by name, discover notable interments, access obituary information, and contribute memories, videos, and family history.
• Walking Through Grief Bereavement Program Bereavement support services including grief walks, a spousal-partner walking group (in partnership with Norton Healthcare Chaplaincy), community lectures and programs, a book club, and holiday remembrance services, provided through the Cave Hill Heritage Foundation to families and community members who have experienced a loss.
• Cave Hill Cemetery Mobile App Free mobile application available via the webcemeteries.com platform providing visitors with navigational tools, location information, and self-guided tour functionality for points of interest within Cave Hill Cemetery.
• Cave Hill Cemetery Publications Published historical books and pictorial guides about Cave Hill Cemetery, including Civil War history titles and pictorial histories of the cemetery, sold to visitors, researchers, and history enthusiasts.

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• St. Matthews Baptist ChurchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 December 2021Venue partner for the annual Holiday Remembrance Service, which includes live simulcast. Church located at 3515 Grandview Avenue, Louisville, KY 40204 provides accessible space for the December event.
• Norton HealthcarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNorton Healthcare's Chaplaincy Program partners with Cave Hill Heritage Foundation to lead the Spousal-Partner Grief Walking Group. This collaborative program provides grief support four times yearly, combining healthcare pastoral care expertise with the cemetery's grounds and resources.
• KrogerminorGTM or Marketing PartnerKroger Community Rewards program allows shoppers to support Cave Hill Heritage Foundation (NPO #43424) by swiping their Kroger Plus Card during purchases. This passive fundraising channel generates donations without direct engagement.
• Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E)minorOthersLG&E awarded a grant to plant 140 trees at Cave Hill Cemetery, supporting the arboretum's expansion and environmental stewardship goals.
• PBScoreGTM or Marketing PartnerFeatured on PBS 'World's Greatest Cemeteries' television program, providing national exposure and credibility as a significant American cemetery destination.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Historic Hollywood cemetery pairing traditional burial/cremation with extensive public events, tours, and a film/cultural-tourism angle — comparable heritage cemetery monetizing real estate beyond burial.
• Laurel Hill Cemetery: 1836 Philadelphia historic cemetery on the National Register operating tours, special events, and a nonprofit preservation foundation — similar single-site heritage cemetery with tour-based public engagement.
• Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum: Cincinnati-based 1847-founded historic rural cemetery and arboretum offering burial, cremation, tours, and educational programming — the closest analog to Cave Hill's historic cemetery + accredited arboretum + tour program model.
• Woodlawn Cemetery: Bronx, NY 1863 historic non-sectarian cemetery with active public programming, tours, and a foundation structure mirroring Cave Hill's Heritage Foundation model.
• Green-Wood Cemetery: Brooklyn, NY historic 1838 cemetery operating burial services alongside extensive public tours, public programming, and a heritage foundation — directly comparable historic cemetery with tourism-driven diversification.
• Mount Auburn Cemetery: Cambridge, MA 1831-founded 'America's first garden cemetery' with arboretum status, public tours, and educational programming — shares Cave Hill's rural-cemetery, arboretum, and heritage-tour positioning.

Broad incumbents

• StoneMor Partners: Multi-site U.S. cemetery and funeral home operator with comparable product set (cemetery lots, mausoleums, monuments, cremation) — relevant as a cemetery-segment comparable, though scaled across many locations rather than a single historic site.
• Forest Lawn Memorial Park: Large multi-location Southern California cemetery operator with burial, cremation, and significant public event/tourism programming — comparable core services at much greater scale.
• SERVICE CORPORATION INTERNATIONAL: Publicly traded largest North American deathcare operator (Funeral Homes + Cemeteries + Crematoria) — provides the scale benchmark for cemetery industry economics, though with a national multi-site footprint Cave Hill does not match.

Regional players

• Lexington Cemetery: Lexington, KY 1848-founded historic rural cemetery (same founding year as Cave Hill) with arboretum characteristics, tours, and a preservation-focused operating model — strong regional peer within Kentucky.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/cave.cemetery
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cave-hill-cemetery-co

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cave Hill Cemetry