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 underground railroad workers, people who escaped slavery, members of the early LGBTQ community, artists, flappers, radicals, and many more. Some of the most incredible stories are in unmarked graves, and new mysteries to solve come up every day!
Adam Selzer is the author of Mysterious Chicago, HH: Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil, and many other Chicago history books, including out now from University of Illinois Press (you can buy a copy to be delivered at the tour by selecting the "ticket + book" ticket!) 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!
And hey, we all scream for ice cream! Your order confirmation will include a discount code for the Museum of Ice Cream, located in the gothic Tribune Tower!
Praise for Adam's Graceland Book:
"Tantalizing... A prolific and stylish writer, tireless tour guide, and passionate researcher." - Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
"A truth-seeking research glutton....(the book is) an adept melding of the tours, the research, and the writing." - Chicago Reader
"Emblematic of...hipster tour guides. Selzer goes beyond mere trivia. He turns up fascinating individual stories of cemetery residents without leaning too heavily on the big names." - Third Coast Reviews
What You Need to Know:
- Meet a bit before 11:00am inside the gates. We'll be at the newly renovated main entrance at Clark and Irving Park! Look for Adam with the white glasses and headset mic.
- There is limited parking in the cemetery, and more in the nieghborhoods nearby. Parking along Clark Street is harder now, as they've changed it to a bike path. There's easier parking on Clark a bit south of the cemetery, or on the west side of Clark. The Cubs will be in Pittsburgh, which helps!
- Tour runs rain or shine!
- The cemetery is near the red line, the 22 Clark bus, and the Irving Park bus.
- The walk covers about 1.5 miles over the course of 75-90 min. Some of the walking veers off the paved paths. You'll get about 3k steps!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Graceland Cemetery, 4001 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States
USD 22.00
