June 25, 2025
Provided Image/Brandon Zimmerman
The Mount Vernon Cemetery in Strawberry Mansion, above, was purchased by Ed Bixby, the owner of the New Jersey-based Steelmantown Cemetery Company. He plans to convert the graveyard into an eco-friendly burial ground, which he has done at other sites around the country.
A year ago, volunteers passionate about reviving Mount Vernon Cemetery in Strawberry Mansion had a plan: list the property on Zillow for $1 million as part of court orders, fundraise $300,000 to cover some of the repair costs, then purchase the space from the conservators for $1. But the money never came, and it was too big of a project for volunteers to take on.
"Even if they could have gotten the funds, we need a surplus because Mother Nature doesn't stop," said Brandon Zimmerman, coordinator of the Family and Friends of Mt. Vernon group. "This place needs constant upkeep, especially in the summer months."
Mount Vernon Cemetery is the final resting spot for a number of prominent figures, including members of the Drew and Barrymore acting dynasties who are ancestors of Drew Barrymore. But plots haven't been sold there since the 1960s, and it was largely abandoned for years, leaving it so overgrown that some sections of the 26.8-acre graveyard are impossible to walk through. It was placed under the care of the Philadelphia Community Development Coalition in 2021 through the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act until a new owner could be found.
Without a buyer or the necessary funding, volunteers reached out to Ed Bixby, the owner of the New Jersey-based Steelmantown Cemetery Company. In 2007, Bixby took over another run-down site and turned it into a nature preserve specializing in green burials — which features biodegradable urns, wicker caskets, natural stone tombstones and an option to be escorted 3 miles off the coast of Ocean City to scatter ashes at sea. Nearly 20 years later, Bixby replicated the idea, turning cemeteries in California, Oregon and Arizona into similar eco-friendly spaces.
Bixby agreed to do the same with Mount Vernon, but the years of poor management left it with a number of liens against the property. He said he'd purchase the property for $1, so long as the city forgave those payments. It has agreed to do so, and although the official title hasn't been transferred over just yet, Bixby has already stepped in to help with some of the summer upkeep.
"What was most interesting to me about Mount Vernon was, when I stepped through those gates, what I saw was a chance to educate the masses as to the importance of a property like Mount Vernon," Bixby said. "Mount Vernon is spectacular when it comes to the statuary and the monuments that it possesses within its walls."
An initial cleanup will take about a year, he thinks, but a full revamp won't be done for three to five years, with the need to get the records in order and make the space usable. He also plans to repair the historic gatehouse on the property with new stained glass and doors. The result will be a garden or arboretum-type space that functions as an option for green burials.
Following the sale, Bixby will take over the everyday operations, and the Friends group will go back to being volunteers that help with maintenance as needed. Once the property has been restored, Zimmerman hopes to expand some of the historical tours and events offered at the cemetery to share the significance of some of its prominent residents. He also wants to repair the relationship with the surrounding community, which soured since the property was abandoned for so long — making it a hot spot for vandalism and causing the overgrowth to encroach on the sidewalk around the perimeter.
Meanwhile, Bixby is eager to bring green burials — and the culture that comes with it — to Philadelphia.
"We're really changing the face of death care — we're de-stigmatizing it," Bixby said. "We're bringing people to a place that's surrounded by beauty and nature and the living and laughter, allowing them to care for their loved ones in death as they would care for them in life. And they would leave changed, not stuck in this place of grief — more in a place of accepting the passing of their loved one. And that's really a profound thing."
