Green Hill Cemetery and Arboretum is situated on sixty-five acres of rolling hills with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside and the distant Blue Ridge Mountains.  Forty-five acres of this land is developed as a burying ground while the remaining acreage is an agricultural buffer shielding the cemetery and arboretum from urban sprawl.

When Green Hill was established in 1873, its location was chosen specifically because of its trees.  The site selected was an oak grove known colloquially as “Shank’s Woods.”  The desire of one man to be buried there gave birth to the premier burying ground of greater Waynesboro.

In 1888 the Green Hill Cemetery Association chose as its third superintendent a young local man who had intelligence, vision, good taste, and boundless energy.  Almost overnight, Ferdinand S. Gilbert made Green Hill not only a profitable venture but also a tourist destination and one of the outstanding landscapes of the Cumberland Valley.  Over the ensuing forty-five years, F. S. Gilbert enhanced the oak grove with brilliant sugar maples, towering spruces, hickories, sassafras, and maples as well as a wide variety of flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, vines, and flowers.  The name “Green Hill” spelt in privet hedge is the only one of his whimsical creations remaining to greet passers-by on Pennsylvania Route 16.  This was an outgrowth of “Gilbert’s Topiary Zoo” which ornamented the land lying between the cemetery and Waynesboro and brought to that town national attention.

Today the directors and staff of Green Hill Cemetery and Arboretum strive to maintain the grounds in the spirit of F. S. Gilbert.  Soaring trees still shade the seven miles of driveways, and the memorials to people from all walks of life still nestle among the dogwoods, rhododendrons, azaleas, and various other flora.