While cemeteries are often synonymous with ghosts, dreary nights, full moons, and other Halloween tropes, they are quite often the opposite: calm, reflective, and deeply reverential places.
They’re also great places to learn about our city’s history. With that, here are three historic cemeteries in Sacramento worth checking out any time of the year.
⚰️ Old City Cemetery, 1000 Broadway
This Victorian Garden-style cemetery was established in 1849. Today, the 30.44-acre outdoor museum marks the final resting place for 25,000+ Sacramentans — including city founder John A. Sutter Jr., art collector E.B. Crocker, and many other city officials.
The Old City Cemetery is known for its ornate headstones.
Photo by @fluorescent_convalescent
The park is noted for its ornate headstones and green spaces, such as its world-renowned collection of ~500 antique roses that can be found in “abandoned sites, homesteads, cemeteries, and roadsides in Northern California.”
Experience the cemetery firsthand with daily walking tours — including evening tours guided by the light of a lantern.
⚰️ Sloughhouse Pioneer Cemetery, 12705 Meiss Rd., Elk Grove
As one of the county’s first cemeteries, the Sloughhouse Pioneer Cemetery was marked as a historic landmark in 1972. Its history is tied to Thomas Rhoades — a pioneer who struck gold during the California’s Gold Rush + traveled with the Donner-Reed party.
⚰️ East Lawn, 4300 Folsom Blvd.
Formerly known as Twin Oaks Farm, the award-winning East Lawn Memorial Park has served the community for over 100 years. Its location on relatively high ground in Sacramento is significant, as its creation was in response to the Edwards Break flood of 1904 that was strong enough to carry away headboards from the low-lying Old City Cemetery.
At the park, you might see the gravestones of former mayor William Land, Sacramento Bee editor C.K. McClatchy + businesswoman Florence Clunie. Can’t make it out? Check out the memorial park’s virtual historic tour.
