From punk rock to gardening classes: the cemeteries getting a new lease on life

The Guardian

4 days ago

Rodney Anonymous, lead singer of the punk rock band The Dead Milkmen, has performed in venues around the world. His favorite place to play live is filled with the dead at the Laurel Hill cemetery in Philadelphia, where he used to ride his bike as a kid.
The acoustics are great, and when there's a full moon, there's no place like it, the singer said. The band, whose songs include Punk Rock Girl and Bitchin' Camaro, have played at the burial grounds at least five times since 2012, and have plans to appear again next year.
'My wife and I were there for movie night and a lightbulb went off and I thought: 'Well, let me write them and ask. What's the worst that could happen? They say no and then they bury me alive?'' said Anonymous, who described the cemetery as the 'happy place' for the couple.
Cemeteries nationwide are coming up with creative ways to liven up – sorry – their wide-open green spaces. From a beekeeping collective in Seattle to 'Night of Grief' karaoke in Washington DC, cemetery owners say events help them reconnect with the local community and sometimes bring in some much-needed funds. Visitors say they enjoy the cool vibe, family- and dog-friendly areas and innovative ideas.
Cemeteries have always been community spaces in the United States, said David Sloane, author of Is the Cemetery Dead? and professor at the University of Southern California. Because many were public green spaces, families would come on Sundays to picnic on the grounds or take walks along the paths, he said.
In the late 20th century, that collective use faded. Sloane remembers that his father, who was superintendent of Oakwood cemetery in Syracuse, New York, got a lot of backlash from the community for letting people jog through it.
Sloane sees the resurgence of cemetery culture as part of a larger shift as people move away from traditional burials to cremation, and a way to bring in some income. According to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA), 61.8% of Americans chose cremation in 2024, up from 56.2% in 2020. The Canadian rate reached 76.7%, up from 73.7% in 2020, respectively.
'There's a move from a very restrictive idea to a broader sense of what's OK [to do in a cemetery],' he said. 'Instead of just a choral group in a chapel, now it's a rock group in a mausoleum.'
Brian Heinz, director of horticulture and arboriculture at Spring Grove, an 180-year-old, 750-acre (300-hectare) cemetery and arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio, said they offer community horticulture tours, container gardening and lantern-lighting ceremonies. They also collaborate with the University of Cincinnati's horticulture program, teaching plant-identification classes.
Heinz said the approach of using cemetery spaces for cultural opportunities started changing in the 1980s, and then really expanded in the 2000s.
At Spring Grove for 26 years, he said that as an operating burial ground, it's sometimes a delicate balance between community and cemetery. Spring Grove operates a four-car tram to give tours, and it's critical to adjust the route to accommodate the burial schedule.
'It's a little more of a challenge for the docents, because they're more structured with their script, and they have mausoleums and people and their history – the stories that they want to talk about,' he said. 'It almost pains them a bit if they're not able to get by certain people, but the drivers and the docents will check in before the tour to our office and look at the daily schedule and adjust.'
In Washington DC, Laura Lyster-Mensh is the death doula-in-residence at the 33-acre Congressional cemetery, where thecformer FBI director J Edgar Hoover and former DC mayor Marion Barry are buried. As people started moving to the suburbs, it became harder to keep up the cemetery and it became unkempt and dangerous, she said.
In 1997, neighbors formed the K9 Corps, whose members pay $400-$500 a year to be able to walk their dogs off-leash during specific hours. At one point, the group had a three-year waiting list, and now dues cover 25% of the cemetery's operating costs, according to the website.
It saved the cemetery, Lyster-Mensh said.
Now, the cemetery offers several events, including tours, death cafes and a book club entitled Tomes and Tombs. One of the biggest events is an outdoor theater night in October called Soul Strolls, where people walk by lantern light through the grounds, and people 'appear' at the graves to tell stories. Most events are free, but the Soul Strolls tickets were $40 for general admission in 2024.
'One of my favorite activities was Bad Art Day … a lot of people are weighed down by their stuff and the things that they didn't get done, their art supplies and their aspirational crafts kind of really weigh on people,' Lyster-Mensh said. 'So we had a day where we invited people to come in and dump all their drawers and boxes of craft and art supplies, and that we would all make bad art with it.'
Nancy Goldenberg, CEO of Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, said the income from ticketed events like Market of the Macabre bring in some money, but it's only a small portion of the budget. The craft show, which costs $5-$10 to attend, offers vendors selling dollhouse-sized caskets and zombie Sesame Street characters. The aim of the tours and programming is to introduce people to Laurel Hill and build visibility and awareness, particularly for first-time visitors.
'It may be really cool to go see Eraserhead in a cemetery. That was such a cool event, let's go back and go to the market,' Goldenberg said. 'It's about building affinity and building an audience and having them understand the importance of this historic site in the region and to the community.'
Some cemeteries have opened up to non-paying residents. At the 145-acre Evergreen Washelli in Seattle, the Catacomb Bee Collective tends to 20 beehives on site, said Madison Opp, a beekeeper and beekeeping educator. It started in 2021 with a simple phone call to the main office, she said, adding that the grounds are particularly attractive because of the flowering trees and the longer grasses.
The hives are located near a bird sanctuary, far enough away from the active part of the grounds that people sometimes have a hard time finding them, she said. Beekeepers help tend the grounds and check on the hives every other week, harvesting honey once a year, she said.
The hope is to offer beekeeping classes and offer honey to those saying goodbye to loved ones, a little something to offset the sadness.
'We've actually had families who specifically request a gravesite near the bees,' said Opp. 'It's really sweet.'