Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery was established in 1920 in Silver Spring, Maryland when Montgomery County was still mostly rural. Its proximity to the Nation's Capital meant that some of the pets buried there were owned by influential Washingtonians such as presidents, senators, and ambassadors. Over the 100 years of the cemetery's existence, it has been a witness to changes affecting society from urbanization to changing attitudes about the relationship between humans and their animal companions. There are now approximately 55,000 pets buried there and at least 50 humans.

In this presentation, Julianne Mangin shares not only the history of the cemetery and those who ran it, but entertaining stories gleaned from newspapers, photographs, land records, and the inscriptions on the grave stones found at the cemetery. Ms. Mangin is a family history researcher, blogger, and former librarian and web developer at the Library of Congress. Since her retirement in 2011, she has been uncovering genealogical and local history mysteries. And in 2019, she was awarded the Wayne Goldstein Award for Preservation Advocacy by Montgomery Preservation, Inc. for her work documenting and advocating for the pet cemetery. For more information about Ms. Mangin, check out her blog, juliannemangin.com. And for more information about Aspin Hill, check out petcemeterystories.net.

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