2026 Death Cafes at Historic Congressional Cemetery

Name: 2026 Death Cafes at Historic Congressional Cemetery
Start: 2026-02-05T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-12-03T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Congressional Cemetery, E Street Southeast, Washington, DC, USA

Schedule

Thu, 05 Feb, 2026 at 06:00 pm to Thu, 03 Dec, 2026 at 07:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Congressional Cemetery, E Street Southeast, Washington, DC, USA | Washington, DC

Talking about death won't K*ll us.
About this Event

We welcome you to join us at one of our monthly Death Cafes at Historic Congressional Cemetery, held inside our historic chapel on the cemetery grounds.

As an active burial ground, Historic Congressional Cemetery is well acquainted with death, but just what is a Death Cafe?

Death Cafe is a global movement to encourage discussion about the often-taboo subject of death. These are intimate informal gatherings where we discuss death while eating cake and drinking tea to remind us of comfort and sweetness even in difficult times. There is no agenda other than providing a space for an open-ended conversation.

Please join us to explore these topics in the spirit of curiosity and wonder. These gatherings are not meant to offer or replace grief counseling. In the interest of privacy and being present, we ask that these conversations remain in the room and there be no recording, note-taking, or personal details shared afterward.

Follow this link for more about Death Cafe history and concept.

Our Death Doula in Residence, Laura Lyster-Mensh, facilitates our death cafes and represents the cemetery for these evenings with a range of guest co-facilitators from the community.

Congressional Cemetery offers these unique conversations free of charge, and offers tea and sweets in the tradition of death cafes around the world. We do ask that you consider bringing a food or beverage item to share, or a suggested $5 donation, to help cover event costs.

Due to space limitations and to allow us to offer an intimate conversation, please reserve a chair in advance for the dates you will be joining us. We release reservations three months before the scheduled date, so be sure to check our website and ticketing page regularly for availability. To be on the waitlist for any unavailable dates, use the form on this page or contact Laura by email.
Questions? Email Laura at [email protected]