Places
Oak Hill Memorial Park
Oak
Hill Memorial Park at the corner of Monterey Highway and Curtner Avenue. Oak Hill Cemetery’s history stretches back to the very earliest days of California statehood. In the mid-19th century, the new American government of San José desired a formal final resting place that was not associated with the Catholic Church. Surveyor Chester Lyman laid out 30 acres for the cemetery in 1848 and 1849, making it California’s oldest secular cemetery. It gained the name Oak Hill in 1858; at that time, the cemetery was fenced and burial plots were mapped out.
Around the turn of the 20th century, a Chinese Cemetery was sectioned off from the main cemetery. From the 1930s until the 1980s, the Hocking family owned a controlling interest in the park. They increased the size of the Memorial Park to some 300 acres and completed many major improvements to the facilities.
The Park is the final resting place of many important Valley citizens, including several Donner Party survivors, “Grandma” Bascom, and the artist A.D.M. Cooper.
