Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison and Frédéric Chopin are all buried at the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and the city uses that cemetery as a tourist draw, but it’s not so clear that the city of Greensboro will have the same luck in that regard.
The city puts out an electronic newsletter called “The Gist,” and, in a recent edition, under the heading “Tourist in Your Town,” the city offers up the City of Greensboro’s Green Hill Cemetery as a tourist attraction, letting people know about its charms.
For instance, there’s no Oscar Wilde buried there, but there is the first marketer of Vicks VapoRub, and there are no musicians from The Doors, but there is the person who started our local Audubon Society as well as the founder of Greensboro’s early hospitals.
As tourist attractions go, it’s pretty affordable: For only $5 per person, you can get a tour that will teach you all sorts of local history. Also, all funds raised support enhancements to the 51-acre cemetery next to the northern edge of downtown. Green Hill Cemetery got its start in the late 1800s.
And it’s not just about the well-known Greensboro buried deceased. It’s also about living trees: On the tour, you can “Identify dozens of native and unusual trees along the way.
You can also, “Enjoy historical and botanical tours, walk leashed dogs, peruse gravestones, admire unique monuments, bird-watch, identify hundreds of trees/shrubs, read, rest on benches, bring your picnic to the central gathering area, and simply wander.”
According to The Gist, all “respectful explorations” are encouraged by Friends of Green Hill Cemetery, which is a group of volunteers that got its start about a decade and a half ago “to welcome the living into this peaceful public acreage.”
In fact, the group is currently seeking volunteers and if Vicks VapoRub lovers from around the country start flocking to Greensboro to pay homage now that the word is getting out, well, the Friends of Green Hill Cemetery will no doubt need a lot more volunteers.
Visit www.FriendsOfGreenHillCemetery.org and join Friends of Green Hill Cemetery on Facebook if you want more info.
Wanna see the dead? Look at your city council, county commissioners or your current president. You can hold on to your $5.00.
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Dead end project.
Don’t laugh – it’s a grave business.
Yeah, Austin, we dig it. The fence is there because people are dying to get in. It’s the dead center of town. And the residents never bother anyone.
LOL!
Yeah, that neighborhood’s dead quiet. It was designed to be like that, by the famous planner Noah Scape.
The best thing they can do is focus their money on maintenance of the grounds around the graves, and also repave the roadways which are falling apart. Last time I was there it looked horrible, but the City is probably not funding the maintenance part of the grounds, but are giving money to non-profits. . . .which means they’re ensuring votes for them in the next election.
The Friends of Green Hill Cemetery tours will have an opportunity to showcase and “to welcome the living into this peaceful public acreage.” Not so peaceful on a night in July 2020 when a group of haters brought in equipment to damage the Confederate Memorial beyond repair. Take a moment while standing at the resting place of 300 Confederate soldiers interned at the spot and share the story of the hate-filled mood of the perpetrators. Share with the tourists that this was not the first time the Memorial suffered damage but the third. Share that the city of Greensboro, and the police department did nothing to find the perpetrators. There was no outcry from politicians. If the truth were known, they were relieved. They were and are all cowards. There is no glory for cowards.
What an obscene desecration of a memorial to American soldiers.
And the Left accuses us of “hate”…
$5.00 to walk through a cemetery? Why not $50…$500???
Sounds like a dead end to me. Another downtown money pit. Let’s give Skip the cemetery and he can bring bus loads of school children to visit, I think they will learn more there and Han his taxpayer funded money pit.
Greenhill Cemetery is city-owned, but it is likely that half the people in Greensboro are not aware it exists.
The Confederate monument that once stood at Greenhill was unlike other monuments that were placed in public parks or located in front of county courthouses. It was not an “ordinary” monument. It was a grave marker for Confederate soldiers and had stood for decades.
The destruction of the monument was a deplorable act of common vandelism and, even worse, the desecration of a gravesite – nothing remotely “heroic” about it.
It is tragic for any grave marker to be treated with such wanton disregard and violence. The incident was a sad example of shameful behavior by those who actively caused the damage and those who knew about it, but chose to do nothing.
I have relatives who were buried at Greenhill many years ago. A cemetery is sacred ground and all those who are laid to rest should be left in peace and their grave markers respected.
We used to ride our bikes thru that cemetery. It was a safe place to ride and it was interesting to see some of the older headstones. I hope they are able to maintain it. Fifty years ago but good memories.