Community Events

Join the Detroit Bird Alliance and the Historic Elmwood Foundation for a birding walk at the cemetery! This is a great field trip for birders of all ages and experience levels. Walk the grounds as we identify the species we see throughout the cemetery and discuss bird migration, habitats and a few Elmwood history highlights. Saturday, June 13 at 8:30 a.m. Bring your own binoculars, or Detroit Bird Alliance will have some on-hand to borrow. We'll meet up in the chapel after the walk for refreshments and discussion. Register with the Detroit Bird Alliance here.

Detroit, once known by the code name “Midnight,” was one of the last and most important stops on the Underground Railroad and home to a robust Black-led community of anti-slavery activists, many of whom are buried at Elmwood. Join Jamon Jordan, Official Historian of the City of Detroit, for a tour exploring the history and context of the Underground Railroad in Detroit and Michigan. Elmwood is proud to be a significant site on the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. June 14 at 11 a.m. The tour is free, but registration is required; sign up here. (Tour sold out? Join the waitlist — spots tend to open up closer to tour date!)

Elmwood is honored to host a sacred afternoon of healing and remembrance, designed especially for those navigating the loss of a mother or father or any grief connected to parenthood. This guided pond-side experience weaves together community reflection, gentle movement, a remembrance ritual and a healing sound bath.

This experience is offered by licensed professional counselors Laverne Santangelo and Carmen Rembert with a sound bath by Adrienne Lakes. The event is free, but space is limited; please register here. 

Join us on Thursday, June 25 at 6 p.m. for an evening walking tour of memorial art and symbolism at Elmwood. If you've wondered about the history and meaning of obelisks, urns, lambs, hands, shrouds, orbs, columns, boulders, or other common cemetery forms, motifs and materials, this tour is for you! Amy Elliott Bragg, director of the Historic Elmwood Foundation, leads this 90-minute walking tour. Learn more and register here.

Join us Sunday, June 28 at 10 a.m. for a "greatest hits" tour that will give you an engrossing overview of Elmwood: how and why it was created, who's buried here, and where to find our most iconic works of memorial art. If you've never been to Elmwood, this is the perfect intro. (If you have, we bet you'll still enjoy!) This walking tour will last about two hours. Your expert Elmwood guide is Jacob Jones. It's free to join, but please sign up! Photo by Ally Rooker.