Tonight, Mitchell's dream gets one step closer to reality as Laurel Hill ushers in its formal rebranding as "Laurel Hill Cemetery: The Underground Museum" at a private reception at Red Tettemer. In essence, the cemetery — with death knocking on its door — is resurrecting itself. Spooky? Not really. With only about a thousand spots left (Laurel Hill's been "99 percent full" for 40 years), it only inters 20 to 35 new bodies a year, Mitchell says. With income steadily declining, the cemetery needed new revenue streams.

TOMB SAVER: "I've always been a cemetery fan, a taphophile," says former Barnes Foundation gallery director Ross Mitchell, who now runs Laurel Hill. : Michael T. Regan

Enter Mitchell, who spent seven years as gallery director at the Barnes Foundation before taking his current job in May 2004. He was a perfect fit for Laurel Hill, what with his cultured connections, grant writing know-how, affinity for historic preservation and proven record of high-society schmoozing. Plus, as he says, "I've always been a cemetery fan, a taphophile."

His job is to convert the cemetery and outdoor sculpture garden — a National Historic Landmark dating to 1836 — into a heritage center and tourist stop despite, or in the spirit of, roughly 11,000 family plots, 33,000 individual monuments, ample stone angels and the like.

"That's as it should be," he says.

But is this promotional plan disrespectful? "If we do nothing and let the cemetery fall into a state of total disrepair, isn't that the most disrespectful?" Mitchell answers. "To get people here, and to celebrate the cemetery, isn't that the ultimate respect?"

So creeping along, one soul-searching step at a time, toward becoming a destination site, Laurel Hill's upcoming schedule offers more activity than the crypts have seen in ages.

As part of the city's Fringe Festival, at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 the Late Laureates of Laurel Hill will conduct a twilight reading of Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters' avant-garde 1915 collection of first-person postmortem poems. (Masters died in 1950 in Philadelphia but is buried in Illinois.) Poets and actors will perch above the graveyard guests on the terrace above the Schuylkill. A cemetery-themed art show, poetry reading and reception will follow at the Friends House on cemetery grounds.

On Oct. 6, there's the second annual Gravedigger's Ball. Last year, 234 people gathered for the black-tie affair on-site; this year, the 7 p.m. bash moves to the Crystal Tea Room in Philly's Wanamaker Building. Sen. and Mrs. Arlen Specter are honorary chairpersons. So is Sylvester Stallone. Mitchell says he doubts Sly will show, but the actor has already signed a pair of boxing gloves to be auctioned at the event.

Stallone earned his honorary title filming a scene in January at Laurel Hill for Rocky Balboa , which premiers Dec. 22. In the scene, he's visiting the gravesite of his fictional wife, Adrian Balboa (March 10, 1950-Jan. 11, 2002), who died in the last movie. The headstone remains as a gift — and yes, as a piece of odd celebrity pull — from Stallone. He also made a $3,000 lot contribution.

Also in the works is the $320,000 historic preservation of Laurel Hill's signature monument, Old Mortality, a memorial carved in 1836 and based on Sir Walter Scott's novel about an itinerant peasant who roamed Scotland recarving names on the ruined tombstones of Presbyterian martyrs.

Mitchell's also coordinating with St. Joseph's University professor Frank Bernt, who teaches a class on death and dying, on an outreach program designed to help kids understand loss and the value of mourning rituals like roadside memorials.

Monthly, there are themed walking tours. Those remaining this year include "Franklin and the Revolutionary Generation" (Sept. 9, Oct. 7), "Dead White Republicans" (Sept. 10), "Sinners, Scandals and Suicides" (Oct. 8) and "The Language of the Dead: Victorian Funerary Symbolism" (Dec. 10). For Halloween, three nights (Oct. 27-29) of guided tours through lit pathways are scheduled. Along the way, guests meet restless spirits (okay, they're re-enactors). All tours cost $20 per person.

The cemetery's renaissance comes hand-in-hand with some general neighborhood improvement in East Falls. Across the street, new luxury condos are taking shape. The cemetery also acquired a lot across from its main entrance for additional parking. Eventually — he's dreaming again — Mitchell would like to build an information center and an actual museum there.

Modeled on the Pere Lachaise Cemetery (1804) in Paris, Laurel Hill, which was established by John Jay Smith, was this country's second rural garden cemetery. In 1998, it became the first cemetery designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Initially a place of perpetual care, it's since been called a Victorian Valhalla where a forest of outstanding obelisks have grown. The cemetery showcases funerary symbolism like no other: Broken columns represent lives cut short, while ivies (eternal life), lilies (resurrection) and lambs (childhood death) coexist with draped urns of the Federal period. "Millionaire's Row" features mausoleums of the Gilded Age, and an array of other architectural styles from classical to Gothic and Egyptian Revival.

As for prominent names, Laurel Hill is a Who's Who of Philadelphia history — sort of a Rittenhouse Square for the dead. The roll call includes, as of late, controversial attorney Ron White (although there's no gravestone yet, only a small American flag). There are stones for signers of the Declaration of Independence, railroad tycoons, civic and intellectual leaders, publishers and painters. Six Titanic passengers — three who died on the wreck and three who survived and died later — are buried at Laurel Hill.

The office houses complete archives, a haven for genealogical research, but if you want in —on a more permanent basis —there are only those thousand spots left, Mitchell says. The most expensive plots, which cost $10,000 each, provide river views. Scullers, he says, are buying them up, especially with word that Laurel Hill is shaping up.

Back in 1848, there were 30,000 visitors, and entry was restricted to lot holders, who needed a ticket. By 1852, every visitor needed a ticket. Indeed Mitchell's research reveals that Laurel Hill was regularly featured in 19th-century tourist guides to the city. In a past life, Laurel Hill was a destination.

"That's the goal — another 30,000," he says. That's 10 times the cemetery's current traffic. Last year about 3,000 people visited Laurel Hill — and only 25 or 30 remained for the long haul.

(j_pirro@citypaper.net)