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. We'll walk the grounds to identify the species we see throughout the cemetery and discuss bird migration, habitats and a few Elmwood history highlights. Bring your own binoculars, or Detroit Bird Alliance will have some on-hand to borrow. We will gather in the chapel following the walk for refreshments and discussion. Saturday, August 9 at 8:30 a.m. Register with the Detroit Bird Alliance at their Eventbrite. 

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. August 10 at 11 a.m. The tour is free, but registration is required; sign up here. 

They were business leaders, political dynamos, doctors, teachers, mothers. They flew planes, fought wars, wrote songs, and built skyscrapers. On our August walking tour, hear the amazing life stories behind names you know (Mother Waddles, Martha Jean "The Queen") and learn some new ones, too. It's our women's history tour and it's on Sunday, August 24 at 10 a.m. Learn more and register here.

This month we'll explore the cemetery's memorial art and architecture, highlighting works by Marshall Fredericks, Rudolph Evans and Randolph Rogers, and get to know some of the artists and architects buried here, from Gothic masters Albert Jordan and Gordon Lloyd to modern legends like Nathan Johnson and Gilda Snowden. Sunday, September 14 at 10 a.m. The tour is free, but please sign up here!