Adam Selzer's long-awaited book, Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols and Secrets is finally here! New from University of Illinois Press, it features mini-biographies of hundreds of the incredible people interred here - from the famous to the unknown, and from heroes to villains. A fascinating selection of people, with stories of the lives they lived and how their lives intersected with each other - and with history!
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/graceland-cemetery-walking-tour-and-book-release-in-person-or-virtual-tickets-391096499157
At 9:45am, we'll have a brief chat inside the main gates (free!) followed by a ticketed walking tour at 10. Both events will be livestreamed - you can tune in virtually at facebook.com/mysteriouschicago! . You can also select "Ticket + book" in the ticket options, and have a book brought to you with the tour! (If demand is sufficient we may add an afternoon tour, as well).
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 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 - and this tour will particularly focus on stories Adam uncovered in the process of researching the book.
This is a hybrid tour - you can by a ticket to join us in person, or tune into the livestream at http://www.facebook.com/mysteriouschicago on a "pay what you like" basis!
What You Need to Know:
- Meet a bit before 9:45 am just inside the gates (at N. Clark and W. Irving Park.) You'll see Adam with his headset mic. After a brief chat, the tour portion will begin at 10.
- 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're in Cincinnati.
- Bathrooms are available before and after the tour. 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. You'll get about 3.5k steps!
- The tour is in the safe outdoors, but we -strongly- request that patrons be fully vaxxed against Covid 19 (really, we hope you have -all- your shots!). If you have questions about the vaccines, the Mayo Clinic has an excellent page to answer them. The vaccines are the reason we can do in-person events at all.
