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William & Mary Memorial Garden
IMPORTANT NOTICE - The William & Mary Memorial Garden Expansion Project has begun and will continue through April 2026. During the construction period, access to the garden is strictly prohibited. INTERMENT SERVICES AND VISITATION TO THE GARDEN IS SUSPENDED UNTIL PROJECT COMPLETION IN SPRING 2026. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to enhance the Garden to ensure it remains a place of peace, beauty, and lasting remembrance, worthy of your loved ones within our William & Mary family.
Since its dedication in 2010, the W&M Memorial Garden has served as the final resting place for many in our university community. This serene place of reflection, located in the Matoaka Woods near the Martha Wren Briggs Amphitheatre at Lake Matoaka, includes a memorial garden, landscaping and a sculpture of a flying dove by David H. Turner ’83. Plaques on the surrounding brick wall commemorate each person whose ashes are placed in the garden.
Beginning in 2026, the Memorial Garden will also feature a 320-niche columbarium, (a wall in which urns and corresponding plaques can be placed), a second brick wall of remembrance for the garden, a welcoming entryway, additional seating, and improved walkways. This expansion will provide a final “homecoming” for more than 500 additional members of the William & Mary community.
Honoring Loved Ones
About the Memorial Garden
Frequently Asked Questions
Your reservation is tax exempt, but it is not tax deductible.
Once someone passes, their plaque is ordered and installed on the Wall of Remembrance or Columbarium Niche. The plaque spaces next to or under the person who passed are held open for the remaining family members who also have a reservation. Only those with reservations can hold spaces next to family members; reservations must be made together in order to ensure adjacent spaces are held and made available.
The William & Mary Alumni Association will work with executors to schedule an interment service date and time. A representative from the Alumni Association will be onsite the day of the interment to greet those attending the service, but the service itself is completely up to those planning the interment and the wishes of the deceased. William & Mary is not responsible for the planning, execution or proceedings of interment services. All arrangements must be made by the executor.
Each capstone or plaque will include the inscribed name, W&M class year(s), and the birth and death dates of each person interred. For uniformity, the Alumni Association has specified the style and size of these inscriptions and has designated the firm authorized to create them. No other form of inscription, marker, monument or decoration is permitted.
Yes. The Memorial Garden is open to visitors 365 days a year from dawn to dusk. Visitors are invited to enter, walk around, find a quiet place to sit, remember and reflect whenever they wish.
Reservations are non-refundable. However, you may transfer a reservation to another approved applicant if you decide to no longer use your reservation in the memorial garden or columbarium. Notice of transfer must be sent in writing to the Alumni Association at alumni.house@wm.edu.
The Alumni Association will exercise its best efforts to care for the memorial garden, columbarium, the ashes interred and the memorial markers for as long as the Memorial Garden and its properties exist.
Questions?
- Katie O'Donnell, Coordinator for Alumni Experiences & Hospitality
- 757-221-1024
- kaodonnell01@wm.edu