The Forest Lawn Cemetery and Crematory Group includes five cemeteries Forest Lawn, St. Matthew’s Cemetery in West Seneca, Lakeside Cemetery in Hamburg, and two properties in the Town of Amherst - the Williamsville Cemetery and Gethsemane Cemetery. All are not-for-profit cemeteries, which are regulated by New York State and open to all. The group also includes the Forest Lawn Cremation Company, the oldest active crematory in the nation. There’s no place like Forest Lawn. As one of the first deliberately designed and professionally landscaped rural cemeteries in the United States, its first interment took place in 1850. Today, there are more than 165,000 permanent residents in this 269-acre, not-for-profit cemetery, where all are welcome. Forest Lawn is also at the heart of Western New York’s cultural tourism renaissance. Each year, we’re proud to host thousands of visitors who come to enjoy all that Forest Lawn has to offer. Unmatched natural beauty – hills, valleys, lakes and streams. Sculptural masterpieces. Living history. Most importantly, the stories of those who now rest in peace under our care - from a U.S. President and foreign royalty, to captains of industry, artists, inventors, veterans from every U.S. conflict since the Revolutionary War and people like us who have quietly built the community that we and our families enjoy. Each has a story to be told, and these stories don’t end here. They live on through the expansive archives and genealogical resources of the Margaret L. Wendt Archive and Resource Center and through our award-winning tours, concerts, lectures and special events.