What’s happening
Looking for something to get you in the Halloween spirit? Preservation Detroit is giving tours of four Detroit cemeteries in October where participants can learn more about the history of these places — and who’s buried there.
One tour goes through the Elmwood Cemetery where some of Detroit’s most historically significant figures are buried. Preservation Detroit says the cemetery, which opened in the mid-1800s, was one of the first in the Midwest to racially integrate. Today, it’s a wonderful place for a stroll. The great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted gave it a redesign in 1890. Unlike much of Detroit’s flat terrain, Elmwood has hills.
The cemetery is the final resting place for Mayor Coleman A. Young, Gov. Lewis Cass, MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith and Stroh Brewing Co. Founder Bernhard Stroh.
Preservation Detroit’s cemetery tours start Oct. 7 at Mount Elliott Cemetery. The Elmwood Cemetery tour is on Oct. 8.
See our Q&A with a Preservation Detroit guide last year to get a sense of what these tours are like.
Photo credit: Photo by Goldnpuppy, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.