Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, an elegant (if eerily-named) burial ground nestled in the tiny town of Concord, Massachusetts, is the final resting place of a remarkable collection of people who helped shape the town — and the nation. You’ll want to start your visit with a pilgrimage to Author’s Ridge, where you’ll find the burial sites of some of America’s most august literary lights, including Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.

The Literary Legends of Author’s Ridge

Before it became a cemetery in 1855, these grounds were a favorite walking area for many of Concord’s residents — including several leading lights of Transcendentalism. Some of the most famous of these classic writers are now buried up in this very same place. People come here to pay homage with pencils, apples, rocks, and pine cones at the graves of such luminaries as Louisa May Alcott (she’s recognized on three different tombstones) …

… Nathaniel Hawthorne …

… Henry David Thoreau (another writer who rates multiple grave markers) …

… and Ralph Waldo Emerson:

A Garden of the Living: Cemeteries as Parks

Emerson was still alive when the graveyard was founded, and he gave the dedication speech, calling it “a garden of the living.” That’s because Sleepy Hollow wasn’t just meant to be a collection of gravestones — it was designed to be an aesthetically pleasing place to stroll through nature. Indeed, landscape architect Horace Cleveland (the designer of Chicago’s Highland Park and a contemporary of Frederick Law Olmsted) was at the helm of the cemetery’s design. And it really does feel like a nineteenth century garden …

… complete with undulating paths and trails.

Notable Graves Worth Finding

While the big four on Author’s Ridge get most of the attention, many other writers are buried at Sleepy Hollow (no relation to Rip Van Winkle, by the way). You can visit the grave of Transcendentalist poet William Ellery Channing, whose poem about the cemetery, “Sleepy Hollow,” begins:

No abbey’s gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops,
No winding torches paint the midnight air;
Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops
Along the modest pathways, and those fair
Pale asters of the season spread their plumes
Around this field, fit garden for our tombs.

You can also search out the tombstones of writers such as Jim Crockett (author of “Crockett’s Victory Garden”) …

… Robin Moore (author of “The French Connection”) …

… Harriet Mulford Stone Lothrop (author of “The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew”) …

… and Katherine K. Davis (lyricist and composer of “Little Drummer Boy”).

There are all sorts of interesting people buried here, many of whom were famous in early Concord (including constable Samuel Staples, who eventually threw Thoreau in jail for civil disobedience), and some of whom have other claims to fame. Among my favorites were Mary Lemist Titcomb, founder of the first-ever “book wagon” …

… Ephraim Wales Bull, developer of the Concord grape (his grave marker reads, “He Sowed Others Reaped”) …

… and Anne Rainsford French, who was the first woman to be granted a driver’s license in the US.

I also really wanted to find the grave of William Monroe, the man who made America’s first wooden pencil, but I never did figure out where it was.. While there is a map of “graves of interest” at the entrance to the cemetery, not every grave is easy to find.

Stories and Symbols in Stone

Whether or not you’re searching for anyone in particular, this is a great graveyard to walk around. I love the shapes of different grave markers (Edward Nealey’s stone used to be a Native American mortar).

Make sure to seek out the ultra-beautiful Melvin Memorial (carved by Daniel Chester French — buried elsewhere in the cemetery — to honor three brothers who served in the Civil War).

I’m also interested in the various symbols used to ornament the grave markers themselves. Apparently, the urn was one of the most popular symbols in the 19th century, and it’s often paired with a willow tree.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places for being “a prime example of a 19th-Century rural New England cemetery.” It’s also a greatest-hits list of graves of writers you read (or should have read) in high school. And it’s a stunning place to walk.

Tips for Visiting Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

• There is a map and a list of famous (or semi-famous) people posted when you drive into the cemetery. Take a picture or use the town’s interactive map to find folks.
• The cemetery is open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk daily.
• There are roads throughout the cemetery, but some of the graves (including all of those on Author’s Ridge) are only accessible by walking up stairs or paths and in the woods. If you want to see everything, wear good walking shoes.
• You can make it through the bulk of the cemetery comfortably in an hour and a half; give yourself longer if you’re determined to search out each of the forty-four individuals who make it to the “graves of interest” list.

Finally, if you’re in Concord, make sure to stop by the Concord Cheese Shop (they have great picnic options, though they’re frustratingly closed on Sundays and Mondays) and the fabulous Concord Bookshop. And if you have time, take a walk or have a swim (or both) at Walden Pond!

Literary Charmers Beyond Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord

• If you love literary history and New England landscapes, you might also enjoy my post on The Bryant Homestead in western Massachusetts, once home to poet William Cullen Bryant.
• For another way to explore the state’s love of words and ideas, take a look at these thirteen charming small-town Libraries of Western Massachusetts.