Overlooking Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Oakland Cemetery has become the final resting place for the citizens of Indiana County, including doctors, professors, U. S. Congressmen, local businessmen, and the founding fathers of the area.  Dating back to 1864, the cemetery, peppered with Oaks, Maples and Pine Trees, sits on 34 acres.

In December of 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, citizens of the Indiana area attended a meeting at the courthouse to discuss the need of securing land for a new cemetery for the area.  On March 30, 1864, Oakland Cemetery became incorporated and is now the second oldest cemetery in the Indiana area. 

The first burial occurred in August of 1864; the infant son of the Carson family.  The Oakland-Elkin Mausoleum was built in 1916 by Mrs. Adda Elkin, widow of Chief Justice John P. Elkin of Indiana.  Originally constructed for use by the Elkin family, the mausoleum became the property of the cemetery in September of 1963.

In 1949, the Congregation of Beth Israel Synagogue entered into an agreement with the cemetery which provided for a dedicated area within the cemetery with 400 plots to be used by the Jewish community.  In 1985 a modern mausoleum was erected and houses both traditional crypts and entombment’s, as well as niches for cremations.  In response to the increasing demand for cremations, a columbaria and cremation garden was constructed adjacent to the mausoleum.  This area provides nearly 500 crypts and plots,  for both above ground and in ground entombment’s of cremated remains. 

Today, when walking through the cemetery, the stories of the buried come alive.  The stories are told through the headstones, and the old Oaks hold secrets as time stands still.