I wanted to personally thank the staff at Holy Cross Cemetery for the excellent service and assistance I received during my visit to the cemetery.  I wanted to specifically mention John McIntyre and one of the groundskeepers (I was not able to obtain his name, but he was very helpful as well).  We do not often hear the compliments and praise for the work we do, and I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that your/their hard work is noticed and appreciated.  I was able to locate the graves of both sets of grandparents at Holy Cross Cemetery with their assistance, placed flowers on their graves and tidied/cleaned up the area around the graves - although, not much was needed - just some trimming and cleaning but I found the grounds to be well maintained and the staff very helpful.  One suggestion I would make it to repaint the numbers/letters on the small stones that denote the sections and repaint/refresh the street/road signs for easier use.  I appreciate your dedication to those of us that want to remember, visit and honor our families at Holy Cross Cemetery. Thank you, and keep up the great work. read more

I was in touch with this cemetery since Christmas. I spoke to someone named John. I wanted the Section and Lot Number for my Grandfather and Uncle. They are buried together. I couldn't find the grave the last time I made a visit. However there was a stone down and broken. It may have been on top of our loved ones grave. I have called, e-mailed with no return call or e-mail. I'm trying to find who the CEO of the cemetery is so I can report John. Why is it so hard to look up the Section and Lot Number for me? This is bad business practice. I will be reporting them to the better business bureau. read more

Visited 5/11/24 To my Mother in Law site. I cannot believe the amount of litter in her section. It looks like they ran it over with lawn mowers and left it. As we walked down the road where she's buried some head stones are sinking, others had what appears to have been hit with these mowers and left askew. Obviously no one there cares about this place or at the very least the lowest bidder got the job and it shows. My Husband picked up 3 small American flags off the ground. 1 still attached to a stick so he put it back in the ground. 1 with no stick so he kept it to dispose of properly and 1 was "shredded " so that too will be dropped off at a VFW post. You have a list of rules at the entrance of what is allowed and not. With a time line of when flowers and other decorations will be disposed of for appearance sake yet, the place is left looking worse by yourselves. read more

Our family worked with Serena to plan the burial of our loved one. Serena's professionalism, empathy, and service to our family were outstanding. We believe Holy Cross Cemetery is very fortunate to have on its staff a team member as caring and excellent as Serena. We highly recommend working with Serena at this Cemetery. read more

I needed information on my grandmother in order to apply for dual citizenship in Ireland. Derek was very kind and helpful. He even went out to the grave and texted me a picture of the tombstone. read more

Gorgeous land with amazing people to help you in your time of need. They just opened up a new section near the creek and it is absolutely beautiful. Heaven on earth is how I describe it. Check it out for yourself. It really is a beautiful resting place. read more

See all

I was talking recently with my Yelp friend Susan L. about our mutual interest in historic cemeteries, and the issue of photography in the cemeteries came up. 99.9% of the time, in my experience, it was never a problem. Occasionally, though, it was. In these days of photography done with I-phones and smart-phones, I don't know how much of an issue it still is. When I was taking photos back in the day with my 35mm camera, it very rarely came up. Always, I tried to be respectful and discreet with my photography. That didn't always make a difference. Didn't here. I was (and am) an organized crime buff, and, in the early 90s, I wanted to visit this cemetery because Mafia boss Angelo Bruno, his underboss Philip "Chicken-man" Testa (immortalized in Springsteen's "Atlantic City"), and Testa's son Sal (who personified the up-and-coming Yuppie gangster in the Reagan era), were buried here. Problem was, I wasn't really familiar with the Philly area (I dated a young lady from west Philly for awhile, but that was some years later on), so I asked a friend to accompany me. He didn't share my interest in historic cemeteries...or any cemeteries, for that matter...but I guess he figured it was a day out, and agreed. This cemetery wasn't easy to find (it's in a suburb of Philly rather than the actual city), but we eventually found it, and it was quite beautiful. Established in 1890, it measures approximately 225 acres. I had called the office, and they had been forthcoming about the location of the graves I was interested in (this was before the days of "Find A Grave"). We found Bruno's grave, and I took a few pictures. The Testa gravesite... father and son share the same large headstone...was only a few yards away, and I took a few photos of that. At that point, a Cadillac raced up to us, and a nattily dressed middle-aged man got out to confront us. He was polite, but said, "You're not allowed to take photographs in this cemetery." I didn't want to break anybody's rules, and...besides...I already had most of my photos, so I replied, "OK. No problem." He got back in his car and drove away. There was a lot of picturesque history in that cemetery, though, and I couldn't see how I was disrespecting anyone by taking a few discreet photos. H.H. Holmes, supposedly America's 1st serial killer (although a lot of his misdeeds were probably exaggerated and/or invented), was buried in an unmarked grave under several feet of concrete. I was able to get a shot of it (basically a shot of grass and dirt, with gravestones in the near distance). I was at the point of taking a photo of a life-sized statue preserved under glass, when the Caddy raced up again. The middle-aged man, less polite now, got out and said, "Hey, I told you no photos were allowed." I wasn't entirely sure who this guy was, but several thoughts went simultaneously through my mind, none of them really reassuring. Probably the guy was officially connected with the cemetery management, or maybe he was a funeral director, but...could I be sure of that? "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the homicidal banty rooster of the Philly underworld, was in prison at that point, but some of his more bloodthirsty adherents were still out and about, dropping bodies in the street and doing their utmost to transform the City of Brotherly Love into the Chicago of the 1920's. Maybe taking a photo of Don Angelo's or Chicken-man's last resting place constituted a grave offense in their world. I glanced over at my friend, a fairly tough guy who had been involved in a bank robbery in his late teens, but he wasn't saying a thing. I indicated to the gentleman that we were definitely leaving at that point, and we did. Quickly. In retrospect, I don't think the guy was a Friend of the Friends...probably he was a harried cemetery manager or employee; maybe a well-dressed, cantankerous caretaker lucky enough to be driving a Caddy instead of a truck...but that was really the only time I ever encountered that type of reaction, and it was unpleasant. In this day and age, I don't know how they can monitor people taking photos with their phones, but I guess the restriction, at least in theory, still remains in place. There's another Catholic cemetery in Philly (the parents of Legs Diamond are buried there), and I've read comments on social media that they aren't tolerant of anyone taking photographs there either. Maybe it's a Philly thing. read more

Deplorable conditions in some of the sections. The flooding is terrible and the people who work there seem to have no interest in solutions. When asked if they had a landscape engineer evaluate the problem they said they did and nothing could be done. I find that hard to believe. What is the maintenance like? Are the drains regularly cleared and replaced? Are there pumps? We were told "you can't change the earth" by Kevin I believe his name was. We were also told by another employee that it would cost too much money to fix. Check out the photos for yourselves. read more

See all

Architecturally significant headstones, monuments and crypts. Some south Philly families call this their final resting place. Lest you think me morbid...relatives buried here. read more

Well maintained grounds with attention to detail. Flat markers are well tended to and workers were very helpful. read more

Holy Cross Cemetery - Flat markers well manicured. - Cremation Services Near Me - Yeadon, Pennsylvania