Chicago's Oldest Cemetery: A Spooky Lincoln Park Walking Tour

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Today Lincoln Park is known as one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods, but in the mid-19th century, the area served as one of Chicago’s original cemeteries. Over the last 100 years, bones from the previous grave sites have routinely been uncovered. Historian Sally Kalmbach will lead the way as you discover the areas macabre history as a vast, windswept burial site. The suggested age is 8 & up; walking distance is approximately 1.5 miles. Costumes are encouraged on this fun family Halloween tour.

Please note:

• The tour takes place offsite. Please meet at the Benjamin Franklin Monument 15 minutes before the start of the tour. Click here for directions.
• Tour duration: Approximately 90 minutes.
• Please wear sturdy and comfortable walking shoes.
• We will be walking outside, on city streets, and through old buildings. Be prepared to encounter stairs, gravel walkways, uneven and possibly wet surfaces.
• This tour will happen rain or shine. Please plan for umbrellas and sunscreen accordingly.
• The tour ends at The Archbishop’s Residence, 1555 North State Parkway.

Sally Kalmbach is a fourth-generation Chicagoan whose family founded a Chicago-based coffee and tea company in the early 1880s, at the same time Potter Palmer was developing the Gold Coast. She has taught classes in Chicago History at the Newberry Library and gives speeches and tours on topics including Chicago’s Gold Coast, the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and prominent families of Chicago’s Gilded Age.

Image: Crowds rush through the Potter’s Field toward Lincoln Park during the Great Chicago Fire; from Harper’s Weekly, November 4, 1871.