Graceland Cemetery Walking Tour with author Adam Selzer: SUPERSIZE!

There are too many stories to fit on one walking tour at Graceland... but this time, we'll try!

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!

Usually we have to make choices - do we go up this road, or that road? This side of the pond, or THAT side of the pond? For this special edition, at several points, we're going to say "Why not do both?" While our normal route takes about 75-90 minutes, this time we plan to run for roughly twice that long. We'll take a bathroom/warm-up break about halfway through.

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 Graceland Cemetery: Chicago Stories, Symbols and Secrets, out now from University of Illinois Press . 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!! Join us for a 2.5 hour (or so) walk through American history - using Graceland's grand new entrance!

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 noon inside the newly renovated main entrance at Clark and Irving Park!

- We suggest you have lunch ahead of time.

- Tour runs rain or shine!

• There is a Cubs game at 1:20, which can sometimes complicate things. There is some parking in the cemetery; veer right when you pull in.

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

- The walk covers about 3 miles over the course of 2.5 hours min. Some of the walking veers off the paved paths. You'll get about 5-7k steps!