Historic Oakwood Cemetery

What Historic Oakwood Cemetery does

Historic Oakwood Cemetery is a 72-acre nonprofit cemetery located in Raleigh, North Carolina, established in 1874 and operated by the Raleigh Cemetery Association, Inc. The organization provides traditional burial, cremation, and green burial services, including grave spaces, community mausoleum interment, and memorialization items such as stones and inscriptions. It also operates a community mausoleum and offers pre-planning services for future burial arrangements, with over 200 years of active burial space remaining on the grounds. The cemetery is the final resting place for over 2,500 veterans, which it supports through the Oakwood Veteran Project and a tiered flag-replacement donation program tied to Wreaths Across America.

Beyond its core burial business, Historic Oakwood Cemetery functions as a historic landmark and educational venue. It generates ancillary revenue through $10-per-person First Friday evening tours, an e-commerce storefront selling books, apparel, note cards, patches, and commemorative merchandise (price range $3-$54), and community donations. Cultural programming — including the Read in Peace Book Club, monthly Plein Air Drawing sessions, and the Death Letter Project NC — positions the cemetery as a civic and educational asset rather than purely a transactional service provider. The 12-member board is uncompensated, and operations are led by Executive Director Robin Simonton (in role since November 2011); the organization holds membership in the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA).

The business model is a hybrid of one-time burial plot sales, low-margin merchandise and book e-commerce, transactional tour fees, and recurring donation campaigns. Distribution runs through direct in-person sales at the cemetery office, a public-facing website, an online burial records search, and a Constant Contact email newsletter. The cemetery is governed as a private nonprofit with no external investors, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed funding rounds.

Name

Historic Oakwood Cemetery

Legal name

Raleigh Cemetery Association, Inc.

Website

https://historicoakwoodcemetery.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1874

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Historic Oakwood Cemetery is a 72-acre nonprofit cemetery in Raleigh, NC, offering traditional burial, cremation, and green burial services, along with mausoleum interment, historic tours, and community programming for families and history enthusiasts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cemetery and Memorial Services

NAICS

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

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Archaeological Sites & Heritage Interpretation Centers (THAJADAG)

Keywords

• Cemetery burial services
• Cremation interment
• Historic cemetery tours
• Veteran memorialization
• Community mausoleum

Headquarters

HQ city

Raleigh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Burial and Cemetery Services: Sale of grave spaces, crypts, cremation options, memorial stones, and inscriptions for permanent memorialization of the departed.
2. Merchandise Sales: Sale of books, merchandise, and commemorative items through e-commerce shop including books, note cards, patches, clothing, and stickers.
3. Tour Fees: Paid evening cemetery tours at $10 per person with proceeds supporting monument preservation.
4. Donations: Community donations supporting veteran flag programs, wreath campaigns, and general cemetery operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Historic Oakwood Cemetery provides traditional and cremation burial services on a 72-acre historic cemetery grounds in Raleigh, NC, including grave spaces, a community mausoleum for traditional or niche interment, memorial items, and inscriptions. The organization also runs paid and free guided cemetery tours, an Oakwood Veteran Project identifying military burials, an online burial records search database, and community programming including a monthly book club and plein air art event. Revenue is supplemented by an e-commerce shop selling books and merchandise and by donations supporting veteran flag replacement and monument preservation.

Product overview

Historic Oakwood Cemetery is a 72-acre historic cemetery in Raleigh, NC established approximately 150 years ago. The organization offers a portfolio of cemetery and memorial services including burial services (grave spaces, cremation options, mausoleum interment), cemetery tours, veteran identification programs, and an online burial records search. The company operates an e-commerce shop selling merchandise (apparel, accessories, stickers, tote bags) and published books about the cemetery's history and notable residents, including titles by Bruce Miller and Robin Simonton. The cemetery also hosts community programs including a Plein Air drawing event and Read in Peace Book Club. The overall offering is a unified set of cemetery services supplemented by retail products and educational/community programming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Oakwood Veteran Project: A project to identify veterans buried at Oakwood Cemetery.
• Read in Peace Book Club

Products and services

• Cemetery Burial Services Traditional and cremation burial options including grave spaces, community mausoleum for traditional or niche interment, and memorial items, with staff assistance for ordering memorials, inscriptions, and other memorial products for families seeking permanent memorialization.
• Cemetery Tours

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 years of active burial space remaining, ensuring long-term service capability

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA)minorOthersHistoric Oakwood Cemetery maintains membership in the ICCFA, a professional association for cemetery, cremation, and funeral service providers. Membership indicates adherence to industry standards and participation in professional development.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Hollywood Cemetery: Historic 135-acre nonprofit cemetery in Richmond, VA serving burial customers while offering tours, a Confederate section, and heritage interpretation — comparable Southern-historic-cemetery operator with similar programming.
• Laurel Hill Cemetery: Historic nonprofit cemetery in Philadelphia offering burial services, public tours, and preservation programming; comparable as a heritage-driven nonprofit cemetery that monetizes its history alongside burial operations.
• Congressional Cemetery: Historic nonprofit cemetery in Washington, DC with active burial, tours, veteran honors, and educational programming — directly comparable mission-driven heritage cemetery model.
• Green-Wood Cemetery: Historic 478-acre nonprofit cemetery in Brooklyn, NY that combines active burial services with public tours, a museum collection, and extensive heritage programming — directly comparable in its hybrid burial/heritage/community mission.
• Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum: Historic 733-acre nonprofit cemetery and arboretum in Cincinnati offering burial, cremation, tours, and community programming; comparable as a long-established garden cemetery with mixed burial and visitor functions.
• Mount Auburn Cemetery: America's first garden cemetery in Cambridge, MA; operates as a nonprofit combining burial services, public tours, an arboretum, and historical interpretation — the closest structural analog to Historic Oakwood's burial-plus-education model.

Broad incumbents

• StoneMor Partners: Operates a network of cemeteries and funeral homes across the U.S., directly competing in cemetery services and merchandise sales; a broad incumbent in the same product category without a singular heritage focus.
• Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries: One of the largest cemetery and funeral operators in the U.S., offering burial, cremation, and memorial products at scale; broader commercial incumbent overlapping Historic Oakwood's core service lines without the nonprofit/heritage focus.
• Service Corporation International: Largest publicly traded funeral, cemetery, and cremation operator in North America; competes broadly in the same cemetery/death-care services space but as a diversified commercial incumbent.

Regional players

• Raleigh National Cemetery: Federally operated veterans cemetery adjacent to Historic Oakwood's Raleigh market; competing regionally for veteran and family interment business in the same geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/historic-oakwood-cemetery

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

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 Historic Oakwood Cemetery