Preservation Detroit Elmwood Cemetery Tour 2025

Preservation Detroit Elmwood Cemetery Tour 2025

$30 Members, advance purchase only

$35 Non-members, advance purchase only

Join us for one of our Historic Detroit Cemetery tours this October. Learn about the notable Detroiters who are buried in our city’s cemeteries. Hear the stories behind the famous (and infamous) buried within Detroit’s cemeteries. Marvel at the historic art and architecture of the mausoleums and headstones.

Elmwood Cemetery on the near east side of Detroit is one of Michigan’s most significant cemeteries. Dedicated in 1846, Elmwood was Michigan’s first nondenominational cemetery, one of the first racially integrated cemeteries in the Midwest, and later was redesigned by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to preserve its rural character and inspire calm contemplation of nature. It’s also a certified arboretum one of the few places in Detroit where you can get a sense of the original terrain of the city before urbanization. It is the final resting place of mayors, governors, veterans of every war since the Revolution, abolitionists, and countless notable Detroiters, including Lewis Cass, Coleman Young, Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinberg, Fred “Sonic” Smith, and Bernhard Stroh, creator of the Stroh’s family of beers.

This Saturday tour starts at 1:30 pm. Meet inside the front gates. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start of the tour, which runs two hours. Ample free parking is available in the church lot on the west side of the fence near the gatehouse with limited disability parking available in front of the office. Note that the Elmwood Cemetery gates close at 4 p.m., so please arrive early if you’d like extra time to explore the cemetery. This is a walking tour; the terrain is often hilly and uneven, so wear sensible shoes and dress for the weather. All tours take place rain or shine. No professional photography or tripods, please.

Walk-up tickets will NOT be available for these tours. You must purchase your tickets online…these tours WILL sell out! Advance ticket purchases are available until 6 pm the Friday before the tour. Tickets may be refunded up to 7 days prior to the date of a tour; after that, tickets are not refundable.

Note to GPS users: There is an Elmwood street in SW Detroit (off of Vernor). This is the incorrect location for the cemetery. If you are navigating to the tour using GPS, type in the full cemetery name or 1200 Robert Bradby Drive (the actual street name).

Host or Publisher Preservation Detroit