Fort Hill Cemetery Review

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Fort Hill Cemetery

Fodor's Review:

Some of Auburn's most famous residents are buried at Fort Hill, an outstanding example of the parklike burial grounds resulting from the rural-cemetery movement of the early 1800s. At that time Americans turned away from the European tradition of burying the dead in or adjacent to churches and instead harkened to the peaceful idyll of rural life. Funerary art flourished; glorious, symbol-laden tombs and sculptures positioned in English gardens made these cemeteries destinations for 19th-century tourists. Rising over a middle-class residential and commercial neighborhood near downtown, Fort Hill is a great place for a quiet walk under giant trees and for views of the city. Among those buried here are William H. Seward, who served in the cabinets of two U.S. presidents; Harriet Tubman, who liberated hundreds of slaves; and Captain Myles Keogh, who fought (and died) alongside General George Custer at Little Big Horn. The earthen tiers at the cemetery site are believed to be encampment remnants of an early Native American culture. At dusk thousands of crows seeking the city's relative warmth swarm in from the countryside to roost for the night.

  • Cost: Free
  • Open: Daily dawn-dusk
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