Lakewood Cemetery

A walk around a cemetery may not be your idea of how to spend a lazy afternoon, but the sprawling grounds of this one offer some of the most beautiful landscape open to the public.

The city's largest cemetery is full of treasures of architecture and marvelous gestures of remembrance. Memorial Chapel, designed by Harry Wild Jones and built in 1908, is an exquisite Byzantine wonder, filled with eye-catching mosaics and a series of stained glass windows that double as a sundial. The grounds provide a soothing escape and a chance for a calm, reflective time for oneself. Opened in 1871, history abounds within the cemetery, final resting spot to well-known Twin Cities' families such as the Walkers, Lorings, and Blaisdells. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey is buried here, as are Minneapolis Park system designer Horace Cleveland and Emil Obeerhoffer, the first musical director of the Minneapolis Symphony.

The chapel is opened on weekdays from 8am-4:30pm and the grounds are open 8am to dusk.

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