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Cemetery El Encinal

Cementerio El Encinal, in the heart of downtown Monterey, is situated in a beautiful park-like setting that overlooks El Estero Lake. The silence and serenity of the cemetery's gently sweeping lawns and historic monuments can be deceiving. Generations of Monterey families and many of those colorful characters who defined our beautiful bayside city now rest amid its sentinel oaks, forever woven like vibrant threads into the tapestry of Monterey's past. For decades, this historic cemetery facility has been maintained and operated by the City of Monterey and continues today to provide local families with a broad range of burial services and assistance.

The City of Monterey has a cemetery business office and columbarium facilities with the Lakeside expansion several years ago. Both structures were designed to include a rich blend of adobe wall veneer, mission tile roof trim, and clay tile floors, that enhance and blend with the Cemetery's historic character.

The Lakeside columbarium expands the cemetery's previous burial capacity with the addition of 1,200 polished granite niches, which are all housed within this concrete structure. This beautiful memorial is partially recessed into a gently sloping lawn area overlooking the east side of Lake El Estero.

The installation of native plantings and 300 additional lawn-covered grave sites in the cemetery's Lakeside section further enhances the cemetery's burial capacity and scenic ambiance. The cemetery office provides a comfortable and convenient setting for personal planning consultations with City cemetery staff.
Burial and Other Services

The City of Monterey provides a full range of burial services:
  • Site or niche selection - Our staff will assist you in selecting the type of burial site that best meets the needs of you and your family:
    • Standard burial sites
    • Half graves (for cremations)
    • Columbarium niches (single and double)
  • Interment and cremation services - You can make arrangements for the kind of burial you and your family desire.
  • Deed preparation and transferal - We will assist you with deed preparation, recording, and transfer of plot ownership.
  • Family, clergy, and mortuary coordination - Proper coordination of all burial services is a fundamental part of the City's full-service burial assistance program.
  • Graveside services - Our staff will not only take care of all the logistics for the graveside service, but will assist you and your family before, during, and immediately after the service.
  • Special ethnic ceremonial accommodations - We will work with you and your family to help you honor any special ethnic burial traditions.
  • Setting gravesite markers - After the burial service, cemetery staff will set the site marker and place flower vases as you so direct.
  • Perpetual care - The City provides perpetual care and maintenance of all grave sites and niches in order to preserve the beauty of the setting and the memory of your loved ones.
  • Payment assistance - If necessary, you can arrange payments that fit your financial needs.
  • Planning for future needs - We can assist you with pre-planning, site selection, and any other future burial arrangements you may desire.
Schedule of Fees
Please also see the Master Fee Schedule - and Cemetery Fees in PDF. Both these pages and the Master Fee Schedule will be updated as quickly as possible, but fees are subject to change.
Master-Fee-Schedule-Cemetery-1

Master-Fee-Schedule-Cemetery-2


View Cemetery El Encinal in a larger map

FROM HWY 1 GOING NORTH
Take Aguajito Road exit, turn left at first traffic signal intersection, which is Aguajito Road and continue under the Hwy 1 over-pass. Turn left at the next traffic signal intersection which is Fremont Street. It is necessary to get into the right-hand lane once on Fremont Street. Continue for 300 feet and the driveway entrance to the City of Monterey El Encinal Cemetery will be on the right.

FROM HWY 1 GOING SOUTH
Take the Monterey exit toward Monterey Peninsula College. Go straight thru the intersection on Fremont Street for 300 feet and the City of Monterey El Encinal Cemetery will be located on the right.

FROM LIGHTHOUSE AVENUE (NEW MONTEREY AND PACIFIC GROVE)
Continue on Lighthouse Avenue under the tunnel where the street then becomes Del Monte Avenue. Keep to the right. At the 3rd traffic signal after going thru the tunnel turn right onto Camino El Estero (a McDonald's is on the corner). Continue to the 2nd stop sign and turn left onto Pearl Street. You will pass the City's "Dennis the Menace Park" on the left and the San Carlos Cemetery on the right. The next driveway on the right is the entrance to the City of Monterey El Encinal Cemetery.
HIstoric Cemetery
A quiet stroll through the cemetery evokes memories of such celebrated locals as 'Doc' Ricketts, long-time companion of John Steinbeck; Flora Adams, infamous "madame" of Cannery Row; Sam Powers, bronc buster, stagecoach driver, and 17-Mile-Drive gatekeeper; Jack Swan, founder of California's First Theater; William Robinson, who served as a constable in 1850s and then as town marshal; and Emma Johnson, who took her place in the annals of Monterey history simply because "she was always right."