Paths for the dead....and the living
How to hike in a cemetery
Not long before the pandemic, I was sent to Cleveland to write a story about the city’s economic comeback and thriving subculture. And everyone I met, from the tech bros to the bartender who sold me a damn good black IPA, told me that at some point during my 72 hours in town, I had to wander through Lake View Cemetery. So I made my way to the southern gatehouse of the place one muggy morning and spent a solid hour contentedly wandering past the tombs of illustrious Clevelanders such as Eliot Ness and John D. Rockefeller. I tracked down the Haserot Angel, an unnerving statue that appears to be weeping black tears, thanks to the statue’s bronze materials aging and darkening over the decades. Just steps away from here, I watched a family of ducks toying with the idea of a morning swim, on the banks of a little pond. I could have explored for another hour. But alas, I had to go and interview somebody from the chamber of commerce.
My visit to Lake View belongs to a special genre of unusual hiking that can yield one of the most atmospheric and memorable hikes of your life: cemetery hiking. That is to say, embarking on a meandering walk through a burial ground that’s open to the public and replete with interesting scenery and historic features. It would be tough to go for a cemetery *hike* in a cemetery that principally consists of tombstones on a small, exposed plot of grass. But many cemeteries seem built for the living as much as the dead, with wandering paths, groves of shade trees, and water features that would rival the most decadent golf courses. All of this open space allows room for contemplation, memories, and of course, grieving—in solitude or in the company of loved ones. In 2013, one of my closest friends from college passed away from pancreatic cancer. The next year, a few of us climbed the hill on which he was buried, among hundreds, and as we sat by his headstone overlooking Los Angeles in the late afternoon, we wondered if our late friend would have suggested Fatburger or El Cholo for later that night. He always knew where to go.
