In 1847, following the American
Conquest of California, surveyor Chester Lyman, along with William Fisher of
Rancho Laguna Seca, laid out an official city cemetery on a nearby tract, which was simply known as the Pueblo Cemetery, until 1858, when it was renamed to Oak Hill Cemetery (Oak Hill being the northernmost hill of the San Juan Bautista Hills where the cemetery is laid out).[3][5]
When the city sold the cemetery to A.J. Hocking in 1933, its name was changed for the final time to Oak Hill Memorial Park.[3][5] The Hocking family's tenure of ownership of the cemetery was marked by the construction of new mausoleums, notably the Azalea and Parkview Terraces, as well as the construction of the Fountain of the Apostles and the Chapel of the Oaks.[3] In 1986, Oak Hill was finally sold to
Dignity Memorial.
Landmarks
The Great Mausoleum is the most notable landmark at Oak Hill. It built in a historic Romanesque
Spanish Revival architecture.
The Sunrise Hill Cross is located atop of Sunrise Hill, the small summit just next to Oak Hill.
The Fountain of the Apostles features twelve marble statues of the
Apostles of Christ surrounding the inner font.