Glorious Graveyards

Bust of a Stern Woman, Père Lachaise, Paris

While some may find it a morbid activity reserved for the spooky season now upon us, I like to visit cemeteries year-round. I have discovered fascination and connection with previous generations in great graveyards everywhere, from Cairo to Paris, Savannah to Los Angeles.  

Père Lachaise

Atop the list of the world’s great cemeteries is Père Lachaise in Paris. The sprawling, multilayered necropolis is the final resting place of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and Gertrude Stein, among others. Paying respects at the graves of influential figures is rewarding in itself, but the most outstanding feature here is the ornate and evocative funerary architecture. 

Oscar Wilde's grave covered in lipstick traces, Père Lachaise

Spilling over with ostentatious gravesites, Père Lachaise is a place to take in slowly. The right thing to do is just wander, get lost, and stumble across the jumbles of over-the-top markers that make the past present. Napoleon’s grave (at Les Invalides) may be the epitome of self-importance in death, but whimsy and wonder win out over gravitas at Père Lachaise. It was once common to leave lipstick marks on Oscar Wilde’s gigantic tomb, but not since 2011. 

Next up are the impressive show business graves in Los Angeles. Rudolph Valentino, a couple of Ramones, Cecil B. DeMille, and Judy Garland are all honored at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. 

When seeking celebrity graves in LA, suburban Westwood Village Memorial Park is a close second to Hollywood Forever. It is the site of scores of A-list graves, including Marilyn Monroe’s.

Burial site of the first English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer.
It is the oldest grave in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey

Since college, I have journeyed to the monuments of literary figures. As a young English major, I was deeply inspired by Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. 

And in England's Lake District, I paid my respects to the Romantic Poet William Wordsworth at a quiet churchyard in Grasmere. 

At Franz Kafka's Grave, Prague, 2008

As an adult, I dragged Joe out of our way in Prague to see Franz Kafka’s grave at the New Jewish Cemetery. 

Second from left, the grave of David Vertes
Budapest, 2008

But it is not just the famous tombstones that captivate me. It was remarkable to visit the grave of a probable ancestor outside of a Budapest synagogue. 

JFK and Jackie O, Arlington National Cemetery

At Arlington National Cemetery, the eternal flame at the graves of John F. and Jackie Kennedy is a beacon of hope. 

Unknown remains at Arlington

But the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is the main event. 

Gracie, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah

In Savannah’s evocative Bonaventure Cemetery, ornate monuments to largely unknown people stirred my imagination. Children who died tragically are sometimes remembered in eerie statues that freeze them in time.

Another young girl frozen in time, Pere Lachaise

I had a spooky experience on a cold, rainy day in the mid-'90s on the day after Halloween. I took a long train ride from Manhattan to Queens to pay my respects at the strange grave of Harry Houdini at the Jewish Machpelah Cemetery. 

Harry Houdini Grave, Machpelah Cemetery, Queens

The world's most famous escape artist famously told his wife, Bess, that if there was another realm, he would seek to break through and contact her here on the anniversary of his death, October 31. For years, Bess, aided by the Society of American Magicians, held annual midnight séances here on Halloween, but alas, Houdini never appeared. 

Eliot Ness Cenotaph, Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland

Here in Cleveland, we have the sprawling and peaceful Lake View Cemetery. John D. Rockefeller, Eliot Ness (gangster Al Capone's nemesis), President James A. Garfield, and many famous Clevelanders are commemorated here at one of the country’s first rural cemeteries. 

So what is it about cemeteries? It is strangely gratifying to visit the final resting places of people whose lives and works have made a lasting mark. I also find many of these sites to be cultural windows that bring previous generations to life. When traveling, taking a leisurely stroll through a cemetery offers a welcome counterpoint to rigid sightseeing agendas.

Cemeteries—even the tiniest one tucked right down the street, across from the grocery store—serve as quiet intimations. They remind us of those who came before us and of our own dreams, aspirations, and limitations.

Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

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