Our Story

In the 1860’s Laurel Hill Cemetery was the premier cemetery of San Francisco with wide streets and beautiful trees and gardens. The citizens of San Francisco would ride through its wide streets on summer evening carriage rides. Travel logs recommended it as a site to visit while in San Francisco. With one fatal flaw, it had no funds or trust money to maintain the gardens and streets. By the 1890’s it was in disrepair and considered a public disgrace. But from that disgrace was born the idea of Cypress Lawn. While taking a carriage ride with a friend in the early 1890’s Hamden Noble, the founder of Cypress Lawn, commented to his friend on Laurel Hill’s plight. Mr. Noble’s friend suggested to Hamden that he should start a new cemetery, one that would surpass the beauty of Laurel Hill while learning from its plight the importance of building an Endowment to ensure the public of the care of the property. In doing so Hamden would be of great service to the people of San Francisco. That very day Hamden verified the viability of starting a new cemetery and made the decision to build what is now known as Cypress Lawn.
In 1892, Hamden Noble designed a beautiful garden cemetery after the grand garden cemeteries of the East Coast that would have an Endowment Care Trust to ensure that the beauty of this grand remembrance called Cypress Lawn would continue forever.
Today, Cypress Lawn is that beautiful garden memorial, a thing of beauty forever perpetuated by the largest Endowment in Northern California. Cypress Lawn continues to be the premier provider of remembrance services that has added a new funeral home, cremation, reception and flower shop facilities to offer complete remembrance services to the families of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area communities.
Cypress Lawn has also expanded from the East and West Gardens to  the new Hillside Gardens with Cypress Lawn signature archway, lakes and fountains, thereby, fulfilling Hamden Noble’s promise for Cypress Lawn that in the fullness of time, Cypress Lawn, will form an extensive park, rich in foliage, flowers, statuaries and other works of art, a handsome gift to prosperity.