Graceland Cemetery Walking Tour: Stories, Symbols and Secrets

Sat Jul 31 2021 at 11:00 am to 12:30 pm

Graceland Cemetery | Chicago

Mysterious Chicago
Publisher/HostMysterious Chicago
Graceland Cemetery Walking Tour: Stories, Symbols and Secrets
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In-person cemetery strolls return with incredible stories from Mysterious Chicago
About this Event

Historically, most of the biggest, most impressive monuments in American cemeteries have been built by brewers, lumber merchants, steel barons, and real estate moguls. But there are far more stories at Graceland than just those movers and shakers. Some of those industrialists and politicians had daughters who set the city on fire with their scandalous novels, or wives who were attacked as "intolerant abolitionists" by anti-Lincoln newspapers. There are fugitive enslaved people, underground railroad workers, Black pioneers, members of the early LGBTQ community, artists, flappers, radicals, and many more. Some of the most incredible stories are in unmarked graves!

Adam Selzer is the author of Mysterious Chicago, HH: Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil, and many other Chicago history books. He has been running Graceland tours for years, and his new book on Graceland is due from University of Illinois Press in 2022. His virtual tours continue to log thousands of viewers per week.

Each tour is a little different, but almost all of our Graceland routes include the famous Inez and "Eternal Silence" statues - with some newly discovered data that you can hear on this tour before the book is released! Join us for a 75-90 minute walk through American history!

What You Need to Know:

- Meet a bit before 11am just inside the gates (at N. Clark and W. Irving Park.)

- Tour runs rain or shine! 

- The cemetery is near the red line, the 22 Clark bus, and the Irving Park bus.

- Limited parking is usually available in the cemetery, and free parking is usually available along Clark Street. The Cubs game can complicate parking, but they'll be in D.C. today.

- Bathrooms are -usually- available before and after the tour, though COVID restrictions can occasionally complicate this. Like most cemeteries, there are no facilities mid-tour.

- The walk covers about 1.5 miles over the course of 75-90 min. Some of the walking veers off the paved paths.

- The tour is in the safe outdoors, but we -strongly- recommend being fully vaxxed.

- Beware of scammers! Often the facebook group will have LOTS of people saying "I have 4 tickets I can't use; dm me to buy them cheap." Once we counted about 125 "extra" tickets available. That's WAY, WAY, WAY more than were ever available. Don't be fooled.

- IF you don't get a ticket in time this week, don't worry - there are lots more opportunities coming! We're just dipping our toes back into in-person tours.



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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Graceland Cemetery, 4001 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States

Tickets

USD 22.00

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