Rockville, Maryland: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda's Graves

Located behind a church. Parking can be difficult during peak times. Walk to the right after entering little gate next to church.

I lived a few blocks away a few years back and made a few visits; no one else was there. I found out later that my neighbor was a part-time priest at St. Mary's for the last year, and even he didn't know!

They originally were buried at Rockville Union Cemetery because Saint Mary's would not allow his burial in the family plot of the church cemetery because he was a non-practicing Catholic at the time of his death. His daughter was able to reverse the Baltimore Diocese's verdict and in 1975 their graves and marker were moved there.

Two stone markers top the graves of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his loony wife, Zelda, an author in her own write (sorry). The creator of The Great Gatsby's grave is suitably adorned with the familiar "Boats against the current" quote.

The grave site is in a small cemetery at St. Mary's church at a busy intersection of Maryland Routes 355 (Rockville Pike) and 28.

Were this grave site in Ireland, hourly visits by tour buses packed with camera-toting tourists would be the norm and Rockville, a nice Washington, D.C. suburb, would be awash with t-shirts touting the famous literary connection. But as it stands today, the graves are quietly located in this roadside cemetery and attract little attention, other than the occasional visit from those "in the know," and, according to Rockville historians, on Fitzgerald's birthday, visitors find their way to the gravesite and leave flowers, packs of cigarettes, martini glasses and gin bottles.