National Cemetery Administration

Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day.

Beginning July 2023 through October 2023, there will be an ongoing phased maintenance project to repair the concrete at Columbarium Wall 1 through Wall 96. This maintenance will require certain sections to close at times for safety concerns.

The following entails the Columbaria Walls affected by each phase. The phases will last approximately 8 weeks.

Phase 1: July 5 – August 28
Walls 33 through 96 (Closed for visitation)

Phase 2: August 29 – October 30
Walls 1 through 32 (Closed for visitation)

Please call 330-335-3069 and press "0" for the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery administrative office if you plan to visit this section of the cemetery to ensure accessibility. Please note that after hours and weekend visitation for these closed areas will not be available. We apologize for this inconvenience as we continually strive to maintain this National Shrine worthy of our Veterans service.

This cemetery has space available to accommodate casketed and in-ground burial of cremated remains. Cremated remains may be placed in the above ground columbarium wall.

Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran.

Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.

» Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery

Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.

For information on scheduled burials in our national cemeteries, please go to the Daily Burial Schedule.

The Public Information Center at the cemetery is staffed with volunteers Monday through Friday. If you would like to volunteer please call the cemetery office.

Military Funeral Honors
Various Veterans Service Organizations provide military funeral honors.

For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.

You can place fresh cut flowers on your loved one's grave throughout the year.

At the time of burial, two floral arrangements with the casket or urn will be placed on the completed grave.

Floral items will be removed from graves when they become faded or unsightly. They may also be removed to allow mowing. Government supplied plastic flower containers are available for your use and located within the cemetery.

You can place artificial flowers on graves from November 1st through April 15. Artificial flowers are also allowed 5 days prior to Memorial Day and will be removed 5 days after the holiday.

Christmas wreaths or grave blankets may be placed on graves during the holiday beginning December 1. Floral grave blankets may not be larger than two feet by three feet. These will be removed January 20.

To preserve the dignity and appearance of your loved one's final resting place, the following items aren't allowed at headstones or columbariums:

• Alcoholic products
• Balloons, candles, or vigil lights
• Decorative and breakable glass, plastic items, or objects
• Non-government supplied floral containers (pots, planters, glass vases, etc.)
• Objects such as rocks or other durable items, that when mowing or performing maintenance could become projectiles
• Offensive items or those deemed contrary to honoring Veterans
• Permanent in-ground plantings
• Pinwheels or windchimes
• Statues or stuffed animals
• Weapons of any kind, explosives, or ammunition

Please note:

• Cemetery personnel inspect graves for items on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month for items that are not allowed or unsightly. Durable items remain property of the person that left them. The person who left them must claim any items within 30 days or they are disposed of following the rules of federal property disposal rule.
• Floral items or decorations may not be secured to headstones.
• In-ground floral containers may not be placed in new cemeteries or new sections of national cemeteries.

Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery is the second national cemetery built in Ohio and the 119th in the national cemetery system.

Currently, there are more than one million veterans living in the State of Ohio and approximately 540,000 residing in the cemetery’s service area. The first two phases of construction, covering 65 acres of 273-acre cemetery, included 21,000 gravesites, 10,100 columbaria niches and 3,800 in-ground garden niches for cremated remains. At full capacity, Ohio Western Reserve can provide burial space for 106,000 eligible veterans and dependents, beyond the year 2050.

Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery lies approximately 45 miles south of Cleveland in Medina County near the town of Seville. The cemetery’s name refers to the part of the Northwest Territory formerly known as the Connecticut Western Reserve, a tract of land in Northeast Ohio reserved by the State of Connecticut when it ceded its claims for western lands to the U.S. government in 1786.

Monuments and Memorials
Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery features a pathway that is lined with memorials that honor America’s veterans, which have been donated by various organizations. As of 2017, there were 139 memorials, most commemorating events and troops of 20th century war.