In March 1999, I met Thomas Roche, who was editing nonfiction for Gothic.Net. I pitched him a column about visiting cemeteries: on vacation, with friends, with my parents, with tour guides. My initial list of proposed columns had 42 cemeteries from San Francisco’s historical columbarium to the artists’ graveyard Vysehrad in Prague.
I’d never written a column before. I had published a handful travel essays in Trips magazine and the Traveler’s Tales books. I’d edited the book Death’s Garden: Relationships with Cemeteries and three issues of Morbid Curiosity magazine. Tom had no indication that I could actually do what I was proposing. He gave me a chance anyway.
My first column appeared in April 1999. It was adapted from my introduction to Death’s Garden, which had gone out of print. It was part survey of cemeteries I’d visited, part manifesto about why it was important to visit graveyards and what they had to teach us.
For the next couple of years, I wrote each month about a cemetery I’d visited, roaming from Gettysburg to Hiroshima, from Northern Michigan’s Mackinaw Island to the Roman catacombs. Gothic.Net never put any limitations on what I wrote about — and the editorial staff were hugely encouraging. Often I’d get nice emails from them even before the essay had gone up online.
After I’d written the first dozen columns, I started to think about putting together a book. I began to travel to historically significant cemeteries just so I could write about them. My husband Mason and I arranged a tour of East Coast cemeteries, starting in Boston and driving to Providence, then on to Sleepy Hollow, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and back to Brooklyn to see Green-Wood Cemetery. In all, we visited 14 cemeteries in 11 days. It was wonderful.
Then my younger brother died suddenly and I got pregnant at 39. Complications ensued.
It took a while for me to complete the book. I joined the Red Room Writers Society in October 2004, which gave me a place to escape to (the Archbishop’s Mansion) where I could write shoulder to shoulder with other writers. I finished a bunch of new essays, filled out the book, and named it Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel.
It took a while to find a home for it, but John Palisano published it in May 2013 through his Western Legends Press. Working with John was a dream: he let me choose the essays, arrange them how I liked. He made me a book trailer that I love.
When Black Dog & Leventhal approached me to write 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, I asked John if I could have the rights to Wish You Were Here back. There were some errors I wanted to correct and I wanted to include an index. The updated version was published on July 21, 2017.
I have felt so lucky and supported as I created this book. It contains 35 of my graveyard travel essays and visits more than 50 cemeteries, churchyards, and gravesites across the globe. It explores the pioneer cemetery in Yosemite, the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Arlington, Pere Lachaise, Vysehrad, the Protestant Cemetery of Rome and the Catacomb of Saint Sebastian, and so much more.
It starts with me discovering my love for cemeteries when I visited Highgate for the first time in January 1991 and ends just before my daughter’s birth in 2003. There’s so much more I want to say about cemeteries–and so many more essays I’ve written. I’ve started to assemble a book that I’m calling Still Wish You Were Here: More Adventures in Cemetery Travel. I think it might be out early in 2023.
In the meantime, you can see where this all began in Wish You Were Here:
Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 9 am-noon San Lorenzo Cemetery Clean Up and Open Day
Usher Street and College Street, San Lorenzo, CA 94580
Drop by to help preserve our local historic cemetery! Bring gloves, rakes, and water. A hat, sunscreen, eye protection, and study shoes are recommended. The cemetery will also be open during this time for the public to visit the grounds and ask questions.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.haywardareahistory.org/calendar/2019/9/21/cemetery-clean-up-amp-open-day
Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 1-4 pm Spirits of St. Helena Cemetery Discovery Walk
St. Helena Public Cemetery, 2461 Spring Street, St. Helena, CA 94574
Tours depart from the cemetery’s front gate at 1 and 2 pm. The stories of French and Swiss winemakers, portrayed by St. Helena High School Drama Club students, will be featured during the St. Helena Historical Society’s 17th annual “Spirits of St. Helena” Cemetery Discovery Walk. Each tour will visit selected gravesites on the St. Helena Cemetery grounds. Tours take place rain or shine. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. More info: 707-967-5502 or email shstory@shstory.org; visit shstory.org; or find the St. Helena Historical Society on Facebook.
Admission: $10
More info: https://shstory.org/events/#spirits-cemetery-walk
Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 4:30-7 pm Evening Hike to Rose Hill Cemetery
Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve: Upper Parking Lot, 37.958359, -121.86326, Antioch, CA
Long ago, miners left their mark on these hills. Take a hike to historic Rose Hill Cemetery to learn their tales of spirit, heroism, tragedy, and endurance.
Parking fee: $5. Tour: Free
More Info: http://apm.activecommunities.com/ebparks/Activity_Search/26333
Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 10 am Food Tour of Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Ave, Oakland CA 94611
Docent-led tour of Oakland’s beautiful Mountain View Cemetery by Barbara Gibson & Jane Leroe, who will focus on the cemetery’s connection to food.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Friday, October 4, 2019 at 5:30 pm, 6:15 pm, 7 pm, 7:45 pm
Saturday, October 05, 2019 at 5:30 pm, 6:15 pm, 7 pm, 7:45 pm 17th Annual Sebastopol Cemetery Walk
Meet at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 500 Robinson Road (off Bodega Ave.), Sebastopol, CA
The evening begins with a soup, salad, antipasto, and bread supper held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Sebastopol. Plenty of parking is available at the church. Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your showtime. After supper, your group will be led to Sebastopol Memorial Lawn Cemetery by a tour guide, accompanied by the very popular Hubbub Club, who describe themselves as “a cross between a New Orleans marching band and a Fellini movie.” At the cemetery, your tour guide will lead you through the luminary-lit route.
Admission: $45.00 ($48.24 w/service fee)
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4290773
Saturday, October 5, 2019 from 9 am-noon Volunteer at the Presidio Pet Cemetery
667 McDowell Avene, San Francisco, CA 94129
The Presidio Pet Cemetery is the final resting place for hundreds of the faithful companions of the military families who lived at the Presidio when it was an Army post. The pet cemetery has been closed off for almost 10 years in order to protect it during the Doyle Drive replacement project, but it will reopen to the public very soon. Help us get the pet cemetery in tip-top condition by joining us to paint its brand-new fence!
Admission: This volunteer event is free and open to all ages. Space is very limited, so registration is required. For questions, please email volunteer@presidiotrust.gov.
More info: https://www.presidio.gov/events/volunteer-at-presidio-pet-cemetery
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 10 am Exploring Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland CA 94611
Docent-led tour Oakland’s lovely Mountain View Cemetery by Barbara Gibson.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Saturday, October 12, 2019 from 10 am-2 pm Alhambra Cemetery Potter’s Field Clean Up
211 Foster Street, Martinez, CA 94553
The Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, established in 1851, has a rich history. Pay your respects to the many people buried in the cemetery’s potter’s field by helping to clean up debris and remove weeds from the graves of those who built our communities: laborers, restaurant staff, railroad workers, farmers, and veterans. We will also prepare the Chinese Funerary Burner site for future excavation and restoration. Wear comfortable clothes, gloves, and protective eyewear. Lunch for volunteers is generously provided by E Clampus Vitus.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.martinezcemetery.org/2019-fall-cemetery-cleanup.html
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 11 am Trolley Tour of the Eastside, Westside, and Hillside of Cypress Lawn
1370 El Camino Real, Colma, CA 94014
Docent Terry Hamburg guides a tour of beautiful Cypress Lawn that will last about two hours and includes refreshments. The state-of-the-art trolley is heated and air-conditioned. Each tour will have a $50 raffle prize.
Admission: Free. Trolley capacity is 24 riders, so RSVPs are required. Call 650.667.7404 for reservations.
More info: https://www.cypresslawn.com/events/2019/10/trolley-tours-general-excursion-eastside-westside-hillside-2/
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 6-7 pm Halloween Costume Parade 2019
Meet at Sterling Park Recreation Center, 427 F Street, Colma, CA 94014
Join us on this Halloween Adventure as we parade and trick or treat from the Sterling Park Recreation Center to the Italian Cemetery. The parade will begin promptly at 6:15 pm at Sterling Park. Don’t forget to wear your best Halloween costume.
Please register by October 9th, 2019 to ensure we have enough goodies for everyone! For more information: (650) 985-5678.
Admission: Colma resident: $1 per youth
Non-resident: $5 per youth
More info: https://www.colma.ca.gov/event/halloween-costume-parade-2019/
Saturday, October 12, 2019 at 7-9 pm Cinema at the Italian Cemetery
Italian Cemetery, 540 F Street, Colma, CA 94014
Join us for an evening under the stars. Bring your blankets and pack a picnic for the family. Movie screening will be held outdoors on the Italian Cemetery Mausoleum lawn. We will host fun pre-movie activities, including music and a kids’ craft station. We will have a small snack bar on site, serving popcorn, candy, and hot chocolate.
Admission: free. Please call (650) 985-5678 to sign up and find out what the movie is.
More info: https://www.colma.ca.gov/event/cinema-at-the-cemetery-2019/
Saturday, October 19, 2019 from 9 am-noon San Lorenzo Cemetery Clean Up and Open Day
Usher Street and College Street, San Lorenzo, CA 94580
Drop by to help preserve our local historic cemetery. Bring gloves, rakes, and water. A hat, sunscreen, eye protection, and study shoes are recommended. The cemetery will also be open during this time for the public to visit the grounds and ask questions.
More info: https://www.haywardareahistory.org/calendar/2019/10/19/cemetery-clean-up-amp-open-day
Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 9 am-noon Volunteer at the Presidio Pet Cemetery
667 McDowell Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94129
The Presidio Pet Cemetery is the final resting place for hundreds of the faithful companions of the military families who lived at the Presidio when it was an Army post. The pet cemetery has been closed off for almost 10 years in order to protect it during the Doyle Drive replacement project, but it will reopen to the public very soon. Help us get the pet cemetery in tip-top condition.
Admission: This volunteer event is free and open to all ages. Space is very limited, so registration is required. For questions, please email volunteer@presidiotrust.gov.
More info: https://www.presidio.gov/events/volunteer-at-presidio-pet-cemetery-2019-10-19
Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 10 am History Hike from Bothe-Napa Valley State Park to Bale Grist Mill State Historical Park
3801 St. Helena Highway, Calistoga, CA 94515
In the past, millers, preachers, teachers, and survivors shared a common thread in the history of the Bale Grist Mill and Bothe-Napa Valley State Park. Discover their connection on this hike and learn a bit about natural history, too. You will be led by a park naturalist to the pioneer cemetery and the site of Napa’s first church. After a 1.2-mile hike, you will arrive at the Bale Grist Mill during Old Mill Days, where you can see how pioneers milled grain in the 1800s and join in the harvest-inspired festivities.
Admission: free
More info: https://napaoutdoors.org/parks/bothe-napa-valley-state-park/3rd-saturday-hikes/
Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 10 am Symbolism Tour of Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland CA 94611
Docent Sandy Rauch leads a tour focusing on the memorial symbolism in Oakland’s lovely Mountain View Cemetery.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Saturday, October 19, 2019 from 10:30 am-noon Petalumans of Yesteryear present their annual Cypress Hill Cemetery Walk
430 Magnolia Ave, Petaluma, CA 94952
The annual “The Lives of the Petaluma Pioneers” fundraising tour begins at the Cypress Hill Cemetery office parking lot. After a greeting by Isaac Wickersham (buried here), groups will be escorted to the gravesites of Captain Tom Baylis, Isaac Garrett Wickersham, Mr. And Mrs. Edward Spalding Lippitt , Mrs. Henry (Addie) Atwater, the McNear family, & William Howard Pepper. The tour concludes inside the Cypress Hill columbarium designed by Brainerd Jones, as narrated by Lyman C. Byce (also buried here).
Admission: $15 + service fee
Tickets: https://cemeterytour2019.brownpapertickets.com/
Friday, October 25, 2019 from 7–10:30 pm Ghosts of Dublin Pioneer Cemetery tour
Dublin Heritage Park & Museums, 6600 Donlon Way, Dublin, CA 94568
Event is recommended for ages 8 and up. Cemetery tours departing at 10 pm are reserved for 14+. Take a flashlight tour through Dublin’s historic Pioneer Cemetery, where Dublin’s buried past comes alive. Hear haunting stories of ghosts thought to be lurking in Dublin, including reports of recent findings by local paranormal researchers. See ghostly images of long-dead pioneers in Old St. Raymond Church. The tour includes a walk through the Kolb House, where you may have to look twice at the eerie shadows in the corners. Make your way through the dark and creaky 162-year-old Murray School House with only your flashlight to guide you. Fortify yourself with hot cider and cookies in the Sunday School Barn. Tours last approximately 1 hour. Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress warmly. Rain or shine.
Saturday, October 26, 2019 at 10 am Historic Irvington Cemetery Tour
41001 Chapel Way, Fremont, CA 94538
Join us for a tour of Irvington Memorial Cemetery, founded in 1845 — before the Gold Rush! Hear and discuss the stories of local pioneers. The tour starts promptly at 10 am.
Admission: free, with donations to support the Washington Township Museum of Local History gladly accepted.
More info: https://museumoflocalhistory.org/
Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 10 am–5 pm Ghost Tour: Shipwrecks of Point Reyes
Bear Valley Picnic Area, 1 Bear Valley Road, Point Reyes Station, CA
Do the ghosts of doomed sailors haunt Point Reyes’ treacherous shores? We’ll pay our respects at a historic cemetery and travel out to the sites of myriad maritime tragedies, seeking personal connection to long lost ships and those who wait to tell their stories from the bottom of the sea. This class will be instructed by Frank Binney. Youth ages 12 and up are welcome with adult supervision.
Saturday, October 26, 2019 at noon-3pm 14th Annual Pumpkin Festival at Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland CA 94611
Celebrate Halloween at our fun-filled pumpkin patch meadow, with free pumpkins, activities, onsite food trucks, and treats for the kids!
Admission: free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Friday, November 1, 2019 at 10 am until Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 5 pm Bouquets to the Dead 2019
90 First Street W, Sonoma, California 95476
Local artists and folk honor their dead and our ancestors at Sonoma Mountain Cemetery for Dia de los Muertos, All Saints Day, and Samhain with a processional from the square. Come one and come all!
Admission: Free
More info: https://allevents.in/sonoma/bouquets-to-the-dead-2019/200017964259018
Friday, November 1 to Saturday, November 30, 2019 Fall Foliage Display at Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Ave, Oakland CA 94611
Stop by and admire the colorful leaves of our redwood and oak trees.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Saturday, November 2, 2019 from 10 am-noon Walking Tour of Old St. Mary’s Cemetery
Meet at the St. Joseph Family Center, 7950 Church Street, Gilroy, CA 95020
The walking tour of Gilroy’s historic Old Saint Mary Cemetery lasts approximately two hours. Reservations are recommended but not required. To make reservations or for more information call the Gilroy Museum at (408) 846-0446.
Admission: free
More info: https://www.gilroyhistoricalsociety.org/calendar/2019/11/2/walking-tour-old-saint-mary-cemetery
Saturday, November 2, 2019 from 10 am-1:30 pm Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead Mountain Cemetery Tour
Meet at the Overlook Trail Kiosk, 90 First Street West, Sonoma, CA
Please join us for a lively, informative walk through our historic Mountain Cemetery with amateur historian Fred Allebach. Meet cowboys and Indians, ranchers and real estate tycoons, farmers and farriers, carpenters and stone masons, quarrymen, grocers, butchers, bakers, maybe even a candlestick maker.
Admission: $35
Tickets: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07egi5n2nme0c94270&oseq=&c=&ch=
Saturday, November 2, 2019 from 12:30 pm-1:30pm Día de los Muertos
Celebrate the dead with an all-ages festival throughout Downtown Santa Cruz, created in partnership with Senderos. Experience vibrant dance performances. Get your face painted. Indulge in delicious food. Join in on a procession to enjoy more dance, music, and outdoor altars at Evergreen Cemetery. The event will be MC’d by Adriana Frederick-Sutton from Univision. More details are coming.
Admission: free
More info: https://santacruzmah.org/events/d%C3%ADa-2019/2019/11/02
Sunday, November 3, 2019 from 11-3 pm Haunting Bike Tour of Colma Cemeteries
Bring your bike and meet at the Colma BART Station at 11 am, then take a spirited tour of several massive cemeteries where famous San Franciscans are buried. We’ll visit Woodlawn, Home of Peace and Hills of Eternity, Cypress Lawn, and Holy Cross. We return to Colma or South SF BART together at end of tour. RSVP at shaping@foundsf.org
Admission: We request a $20-50 sliding scale donation for our bike tours (but are flexible and you can pay less–or more!–as you see fit), benefiting Shaping San Francisco.
More info: http://www.shapingsf.org/tours.html#colma
Saturday, November 9, 2019 at 11 am Kings All – Railroaders Miners & Men of the Forest
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, 1370 El Camino Real, Colma, CA 94014
Professor Michael Svanevik guides a trolley tour of historic Cypress Lawn that will last about two hours and includes refreshments. The state-of-the-art trolley is heated and air-conditioned. Each tour will have a $50 raffle prize.
Admission: Free. Trolley capacity is 24 riders. RSVPs are required. Call 650.667.7404 for reservations.
More info: https://www.cypresslawn.com/events/2019/11/trolley-tours-kings-railroaders-miners-men-forest/
Saturday, November 9, 2019 at 10 am Exploring Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland CA 94611
Docent-led tour Oakland’s lovely Mountain View Cemetery by Jane Leroe.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 10 am Olmsted & Oakland Notables Tour of Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland CA 94611
Tour of Mountain View Cemetery led by docent Chris Pattillo, focusing on its design by Frederick Law Olmstead and the Oakland notables buried here.
Admission: Free
More info: https://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/events/upcoming-events
Canceled due to restoration work:
Saturday, October 12, 2019 from noon-2 pm Historic Mare Island Navy Cemetery Tour
Saturday, November 9, 2019 at noon-2 pm Historic Mare Island Navy Cemetery Tour
Sunday, September 23 at 1-3 pm Spirits of St. Helena Cemetery Walk
St. Helena Public Cemetery
2461 Spring St, St Helena, CA 94574
This is the St. Helena Historical Society’s 16th Annual Cemetery Tour, featuring stories of German decedents, including Charles Krug and Jacob Schram. St. Helena High School drama students, under the direction of Patti Coyle, will be acting out scenarios from the lives of the deceased and their families. 1 to 3 pm at the St. Helena Cemetery. 967-5502 or shstory.org.
Saturday, September 29 from 9-1 pm San Lorenzo Cemetery Clean Up and Open Day
Usher Street and College Street, San Lorenzo, CA 94580
Drop by to help preserve our local historic cemetery! Bring gloves, rakes, and water. The cemetery will also be open during this time for the public to visit the grounds and ask questions. http://www.haywardareahistory.org/calendar/2018/9/29/san-lorenzo-cemetery-clean-up-and-open-day
Saturday, October 6 from 8:30-10 am Yountville Veterans Home & Cemetery Photo Walk
100 California Drive, Yountville, CA 94599
Imagine you and your camera being guided on a historical photowalk tour in the heart of Napa Valley by our nation’s veterans. They will be your “imagery guide” to the oldest and largest of eight California homes. The home was established in 1884 by veterans of the Civil and Mexican American Wars. The walking tour will include: The 1918 Armistice Chapel that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, The home’s cemetery where nearly 6ooo men and women have been laid to rest, including four Medal of Honors, and the Arboretum that includes trees from all over the world. After your tour, you will have the opportunity to re-group in the Tug McGraw Foundation’s Brain Food Garden, enjoy delights provided by the foundation and chat about your images! Bring comfortable shoes and water. The entire campus is wheelchair accessible. https://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/the-historical-yountville-veterans-home/
Friday & Saturday, October 19-20, beginning at 7 pm Lantern Tours of Old City Cemetery
1000 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818
Tickets are $40 and should be purchased in advance. This will sell out.
Tour the tombstones in “They Had It Coming,” the theme of the 2018 Lantern Tours. There will be five tours per night, beginning at 7 p.m. and every half hour thereafter. The evening will begin with period music, games of chance, and encounters with some characters out of the city’s past. On the tour, meet other eternal residents who will tell their tales of crimes of passion, rash judgment, and just rewards. The experience ends with a stage show of merry cemetery murderesses dancing, singing and telling their own stories. The price includes all this and refreshments. Proceeds support cemetery preservation. http://events.sacbee.com/performer.aspx?perf_id=2528342
Friday, October 19 from 7–10:30 pm Ghosts of Dublin Pioneer Cemetery tour
Dublin Heritage Park & Museums, 6600 Donlon Way, Dublin, CA 94568
Tickets are $14 and should be purchased in advance. This will sell out.
Take a flashlight tour through Dublin’s historic Pioneer Cemetery, where Dublin’s buried past comes alive. Hear haunting stories of ghosts thought to be lurking in Dublin, including reports of recent findings by local paranormal researchers. See ghostly images of long dead pioneers in Old St. Raymond Church. https://patch.com/california/dublin/calendar/event/20181019/394748/ghosts-of-dublin-flashlight-tour-2018-pioneer-cemetery-dublin
Sunday, October 21 at 1:30 pm Tour of Mountain View Cemetery
5000 Piedmont Ave, Oakland CA 94611
Tickets are $18.
Every visit to Mountain View Cemetery is like a trip back in time. It is like shaking hands with railroad builder Charles Crocker, admiring the brushwork of Yosemite landscape painter Thomas Hill, and hearing architect Julia Morgan rhapsodize about her designs for Hearst Castle. https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/events/details?event_id=27734
Wednesday, October 24 at 6:30-7:45 pm Hunters Tour of Alhambra Cemetery
211 Foster St, Martinez, CA 94553
The Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, established in 1851, has stunning views of the Carquinez Strait and a rich history. A tour guide will introduce you to families with names you know and some you don’t. You’ll learn more about local war heroes, personalities, politicians and a most creative caretaker. Tours are designed to enlighten, not frighten. Wear sturdy comfortable shoes and dress for the weather. Sorry, no children please! Bring a flashlight. https://patch.com/california/martinez/calendar/event/20181024/398582/alhambra-cemetery-halloween-full-moon-tour-martinez
Friday, October 26 from 7–10:30 pm Ghosts of Dublin Pioneer Cemetery tour
Dublin Heritage Park & Museums, 6600 Donlon Way, Dublin, CA 94568
Tickets are $14 and should be purchased in advance. This will sell out.
Take a flashlight tour through Dublin’s historic Pioneer Cemetery, where Dublin’s buried past comes alive. Hear haunting stories of ghosts thought to be lurking in Dublin, including reports of recent findings by local paranormal researchers. See ghostly images of long dead pioneers in Old St. Raymond Church. https://patch.com/california/dublin/calendar/event/20181019/394748/ghosts-of-dublin-flashlight-tour-2018-pioneer-cemetery-dublin
Saturday, October 27 at 10 am Tour of Mt. Olivet Cemetery
270 Los Ranchitos Rd, San Rafael, CA 94903
Join us to visit the burial sites of many of the founding pioneer families of Marin County. Some who found their final place here led scandalous lives but now rest peacefully. From James Miller, founding father, to Barbara Graham, criminal, all have a story to tell. https://marinhistory.org/event-2960661
Saturday, October 27 at 7:30 pm Nighttime Walking Tour of Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
1363 El Camino Real, Colma, CA 94014
Meet docent Terry Hamburg at the Nobel Chapel for the annual nighttime walking tour. http://www.cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org/events/walking-tours/
Sunday, October 28 from 10 am–5 pm Ghost Tour: Shipwrecks of Point Reyes
Starts at the Historic Life-Saving Service Cemetery
18618-19084 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
For youth, ages 12 and up, with adult supervision.
Tickets are $40.
Do the ghosts of doomed sailors haunt Point Reyes’ treacherous shores? We’ll pay our respects at a historic cemetery and travel out to the sites of myriad maritime tragedies, seeking personal connection to long lost ships and those who wait to tell their stories from the bottom of the sea. http://www.ptreyes.org/camps-classes-programs/field-institute/classes/ghost-tour-shipwrecks-point-reyes-1
Sunday, October 28 from noon-3 pm Cycles of History: Haunted Colma
$15-50 sliding scale donation (but we are flexible and you can pay less–or more!–as you see fit), benefiting Shaping San Francisco. Please RSVP to shaping@foundsf.org or 415.881.7579.
Meet at the Colma BART Station at 12 noon and then take a spirited tour of several massive cemeteries where famous San Franciscans are buried. Visit Woodlawn, Home of Peace and Hills of Eternity, Cypress Lawn, and Holy Cross. Return to Colma or South SF BART together at the end of the tour. Bring water and a snack. https://sfbike.org/event/cycles-of-history-haunting-tour-of-colma-cemeteries/
Wednesday, October 31 at 6:30-7:45pm Halloween Tour of Alhambra Cemetery
211 Foster St, Martinez, CA 94553
The Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, established in 1851, has stunning views of the Carquinez Strait and a rich history. A tour guide will introduce you to families with names you know and some you don’t. You’ll learn more about local war heroes, personalities, politicians and a most creative caretaker. Tours are designed to enlighten, not frighten. Wear sturdy comfortable shoes and dress for the weather. Sorry, no children please! Bring a flashlight. https://patch.com/california/martinez/calendar/event/20181024/398582/alhambra-cemetery-halloween-full-moon-tour-martinez
This photo and the two that follow are taken from The Sleeping City: The Story of Rookwood Necropolis, which I’ll review tomorrow.
Rookwood Necropolis
Hawthorne Avenue, Rookwood, New South Wales 2141, Australia Founded: 1867 Size: 777 acres Number of interments: more than 1 million
In 1862, the government of New South Wales purchased 200 acres of the Hyde Park Estate, owned by Mr. Edward Cohen, near the village of Haslam’s Creek for the site of a new cemetery. Once the necropolis was dedicated, burials began in January 1867. This year, Rookwood Necropolis is celebrating its sesquicentennial.
Nearly 10 miles outside of Sydney’s business district, the original cemetery was designed with divisions for Roman Catholic, Anglican, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Jewish, and Independent congregations. Each section was sized based on the denomination’s number of adherents in the 1861 census. That original 200-acre cemetery is now only the northwestern corner of this enormous cemetery. The Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Independent, General, and Catholic Cemeteries all have curvilinear layouts, while the Anglican Cemetery is based on a grid.
The original 200-acre cemetery lay along the rail line from Sydney to Parramatta. A spur was built to carry funeral trains into the cemetery to stations serving Anglicans, Catholics, and nonbelievers. The first funeral train ran in April 1864. Train service ended in 1848.
In 1878-9, 577 acres were added to the cemetery. At 777 acres, the Rookwood Necropolis is the largest graveyard in the Southern Hemisphere. More than a million people have been buried or cremated there. A whopping one million epitaphs have been recorded on 600,000 graves and 200,000 crematorium niches. In fact, although it wasn’t the first crematorium in Australia, Rookwood’s Spanish Mission-style crematorium is the oldest that continues to operate. It opened in 1925.
The necropolis is so large that “vistas came be found within it that are completely contained within the cemetery landscape, providing an aesthetic retreat for the senses of the viewer,” according to its National Trust listing. When it was added to the National Trust of Australia (NSW) in 1988, Rookwood was commended for being a “comprehensive and tangible manifestation of the social history of Sydney, documenting the cultural and religious diversity of the Australian community since 1867.” Rookwood serves over 90 culturally diverse communities, also displaying Australia’s diversity of religious beliefs and burial practices in its monuments and memorials.
The National Trust listing goes on to note that “the progressive layering, development, and diversity of styles of memorialization document the conceptual move away from the 19th century perception of death and dying to the more rationalist view prevailing at the present time.” The Friends of Rookwood offer several tours that point out historical points of interest, including some twilight tours. I’ll link to the 2017 tour schedule below.
More recently, Rookwood acknowledged that the Dharug people—part of the oldest continuous culture in the world—are the traditional custodians of their land.
The largest public open space within urban Sydney, Rookwood serves as a haven for birds and native fauna, including 19 species of frogs and reptiles. In addition to native brushtail possums and grey-headed flying foxes, the cemetery hosts colonies of imported rabbits, hares, and foxes. Several species of cuckoos and honeyeaters breed in the cemetery trees. A large spectrum of birds migrate through. The cemetery also provides habitat for two endangered plant species: the downy wattle and the small-leaved Dillwynia.
Buried here are Peter Dawson, a singer and composer who became famous as a gramophone recording artist; Louisa Lawson, a suffragette who owned a newspaper and wrote poetry and short stories; John Fairfax, who emigrated from England with five pounds and later purchased the Sydney Herald; and Roy Rene, who performed as Australia’s most popular vaudeville star Mo McCackie.
Rookwood has a large War Graves area, some of which commemorates the Australian landing at Gallipoli during World War I. Many of the graves are cenotaphs in memory of soldiers buried in Europe or whose bodies were never recovered. The cemetery has a thoughtful video on their website.
A paperback copy of The Sleeping City: The Story of Rookwood Necropolis edited by David A. Weston is available on Amazon for a whole lot of money. I got a hard cover copy via ebay for much less.
Woman grieving beneath a willow tree. Sacramento Old City Cemetery photograph by Loren Rhoads.
by Christopher R. Bales
The meeting room was small, crowded, and smelled like old books. Tall shelves crammed with dusty records and yellowed pamphlets surrounded the large wooden table. Old maps, posters, even a genuine turn-of-the-century embalming certificate decorated the confines. Curiously, the brick-walled room lacked windows. A few questions revealed that this place had once been a storage area for bodies awaiting burial: the perfect atmosphere for the task at hand.
This was the meeting place for hopeful participants in the “Old City Cemetery Moonlight Tour.” The event would consist of a number of graveside performances. In makeshift period costumes, with modest sound and lighting equipment, performers would reenact the lives, deaths, and mysterious occurrences of the more colorful residents buried at the historic Sacramento cemetery.
The tour coordinator sat behind his desk with a handful of notes. Stroking his silver mustache and gesturing with his long arms in true thespian fashion, he recounted graveyard tales in a distinctive baritone. The roles available for the moonlight performance were offered in a first-hand‑up‑it’s‑yours basis. As with most volunteer affairs, the turnout was small. I was only interested in one part — the chance of a lifetime — and was delighted to find the role of the Grim Reaper mine for the taking. How many opportunities does one have to play Death in a moonlit graveyard?
Armed with a small flashlight, the coordinator traversed the cemetery with long, confident strides. I followed as best I could, trying not to trip over my own feet or the gravestones of unsuspecting strangers. The flashlight’s dancing beam lit on particular tombstones as the coordinator explained my role as the Specter of Death, plot by plot. When the audience gathered in front of a grave, the narrator would take his place center stage. On his signal, I would enter from a nearby hiding place and pass an enigmatic hand across the audience. My pointed finger would end at the gravestone that was the subject of the performance at hand. After my exit, the actors would come out to start the scene. I would move to the next site and repeat the formality. The Reaper would appear only at six locations. With no lines to learn and nothing but dramatic entrances and exits, I felt confident I could survive the night.
With the spirit of Halloween in the air, I was eager for the night of the show.
Woman grieving beneath a willow tree. Sacramento Old City Cemetery photograph by Loren Rhoads.
October 26th, 1996, 5:00 p.m.
I had about an hour to prepare for the performance. The slow transformation into the Grim Reaper was strangely hypnotic. I slicked my hair tightly against my scalp. In progressive layers of gray and black face paint, I sculpted my features. My eyes became dead, black sockets. My jaw became sunken and gaunt. My brow and cheekbones pushed forward as the skull crept out from beneath my skin. Calm power entered me. I became something else. With effort, I pulled a thick black robe over my head. I adjusted the cowl and let the long sleeves slide to my wrists. Turning out the light, I opened the door a crack. The chiaroscuro effect of the light filtering into the room made my death mask seem to smolder in the soft shadows. I clutched my tall scythe and passed a hand across my reflection in the mirror.
The ride to the cemetery was surreal, a testimonial the desensitization of today’s society. No one noticed the Reaper of Death riding down the highway in a compact pickup.
A crowd was already forming at the entrance to the graveyard. I parked in a small lot across the way, took a moment to get into character, then crossed the street. I advanced through the iron gate and entered the grounds. It took a while for the spectators notice Death moving in behind them. Soon double takes and whispers had the group slowly parting, with apologetic gestures of fear, respect, or mild amusement.
One of the volunteers handed me an antique lamp. Its flickering candlelight tied off the Reaper ensemble. I quickly took my position at the first site.
After what seemed like hours spent crouching behind a bush, I saw the audience encircle the plot. Flashlights from the costumed ushers corralled them. The narrator, appropriately dressed in an old-fashioned black tie and jacket, took his place behind the podium. I emerged slowly. Somehow I’d developed a lumbering, slow-motion walk, as if my bones had become ancient. I held my lamp before me, casting the light over the assemblage as if scouting future prospects. Bright light surprised me as the ushers trained their flashlights on my face. I stopped in front of the tombstone and passed a searching finger across the crowd, making brief eye contact with those who dared to meet my gaze. More lights, this time flash photography, hit me just as my finger stopped at the face of the headstone.
I turned away slowly, grabbed my sickle from the tree where it rested, and hobbled out of the scene as the actors made their entrance.
I stayed in character as I made my way to the next plot, since the audience could see me in the distance. This was the most inspirational moment of the evening for me: moving alone through the moonlit cemetery, the sound of the performers disappearing behind me. The cold wind rustled my black robe as I strolled through the weather-etched grave markers. Using the dim light of my lantern, I stopped now and then to read a faded inscription. I felt calm and reverent, as if visiting those I’d met before (although our first encounter might have been under less than desirable circumstances). Now they knew the peace only I had the power to give them. This was fun, although a little disturbing. I’m not sure I liked that the role of Death came so naturally to me.
The last stop on the tour was one of the most impressive plots in the Old City Cemetery. It was a large mausoleum, resting place of a mother and son. Through small panels of glass, the two caskets could be viewed.
As I moved behind the crypt to my hiding place, I was startled by a hooded figure. She was cloaked in black velvet. Her gloved hands cupped a perfect red rose. Head bowed, she whispered to herself as if in prayer — one of the performers meditating over her lines, I thought. She was playing the mother buried in the mausoleum. The son died first and, apparently, his mother was obsessed with visiting the gravesite. When she died, she was laid to rest in the same mausoleum.
I chose not to disturb the actress. I set my lantern at my feet, leaned against my scythe, and waited for the narrator’s signal.
I made my usual enigmatic entrance and exit, then moved down the short stairs of the mausoleum. It was the final performance and I felt a certain amount of relief. As I passed the outskirts of the spectators lining the walkway, I heard my only heckling of the evening. It was a rather rude sound, a feeble, unimaginative attempt to break my stone‑faced character. I stopped in my tracks and tightened my grip on the scythe. I wanted to slowly turn, searching out the insolent mortal with my cold dead eyes, to offer him a premature ride to the black abyss. Only a fool would belittle the personification of Death on His own hallowed ground.
But the performers had begun to recite their lines. So as not to interfere with the proceedings, I moved on, deciding to leave it as a moment of whimsy. Maybe next year’s performance will allow me to reap my revenge.
This piece originally appeared in Morbid Curiosity #2. Learn more about the Old City Cemetery here.
***
Christopher R. Bales is an artist, author, and occasional Death impersonator. Please check out his work at www.christopherbales.com.
From his about page: “It seems cheap to pigeonhole assemblage artist Christopher Bales’s work as merely steampunk: His aesthetic is older than that. Although he sometimes uses antique and vintage materials associated with the genre, such as metal cogs, the final product often looks more like an altar constructed from the rubble of a pre-Victorian cathedral.
“Bales, who has been assembling these intricate sculptures since 1989, said he sources “an enormous amount of objects”—like broken wooden boxes, dolls, clocks, picture frames, figurines—from his weekly visits to flea markets and thrift stores.”
***
About the Death’s Garden project:
For the next couple months, I’m planning to put a cemetery essay up every Friday. If there is a cemetery that has touched your life, I would love to hear from you, particularly if there is one you visited on vacation — or if you got married in one. The submissions guidelines are here.
Click here to sign up for my monthly mailing list, which will keep you up to date on my speaking schedule and upcoming projects. As a thank you, you'll receive "4Elements," a short ebook that showcases one of my favorite cemetery essays, a travel essay, and two short stories, spanning from urban fantasy to science fiction.
In March 1999, I met Thomas Roche, who was editing nonfiction for Gothic.Net. I pitched him a column about visiting cemeteries: on vacation, with friends, with my parents, with tour guides. My initial list of proposed columns had 42 cemeteries from San Francisco’s historical columbarium to the artists’ graveyard Vysehrad in Prague.
It took a while to find a home for it, but John Palisano published it in May 2013 through his Western Legends Press. Working with John was a dream: he let me choose the essays, arrange them how I liked. He made me a book trailer that I love.
Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 1-4 pm
The necropolis is so large that “vistas came be found within it that are completely contained within the cemetery landscape, providing an aesthetic retreat for the senses of the viewer,” according to its National Trust listing. When it was added to the National Trust of Australia (NSW) in 1988, Rookwood was commended for being a “comprehensive and tangible manifestation of the social history of Sydney, documenting the cultural and religious diversity of the Australian community since 1867.” Rookwood serves over 90 culturally diverse communities, also displaying Australia’s diversity of religious beliefs and burial practices in its monuments and memorials.
Buried here are Peter Dawson, a singer and composer who became famous as a gramophone recording artist; Louisa Lawson, a suffragette who owned a newspaper and wrote poetry and short stories; John Fairfax, who emigrated from England with five pounds and later purchased the Sydney Herald; and Roy Rene, who performed as Australia’s most popular vaudeville star Mo McCackie.
About the Death’s Garden project: