As a docent I spent my Sunday doing a tour at Forest Lawn Cemetery. My wife and I did the trolley tour which we have talked about doing for years and just never got to. First, the place is beautiful and loaded with more significant historical and cultural significance than you can believe. For $25. each it was well worth the time and money. It started with a short presentation in the chapel, a 120 year old or so building designed by EB Green. Then you board the trolley, yes, an actual trolley, the same one used for the All Day All Wright tours. You spend about 2 hours cruising the cemetery with a docent with a microphone in the front of the trolley pointing out significant points of interest. Periodically, costumed actors, posing as various deceased individuals of note buried there get on board and tell you about themselves. For our tour it was Dorothy Berlin, Irving's first wife, Millard Fillmore, George Pierce (of Pierce Arrow fame,) and Sara Hinson, the Buffalo school marm who initiated Flag Day as a national holiday.
I have visited the cemetery numerous times over the years, always found myself getting lost if driving and driving in circles for awhile to find my bearings. I was pleased to note that both the trolley driver and the docent got equally lost for a couple minutes. It helped validate my own lack of direction.
Eventually you are returned to the chapel and your car in the parking lot there to find your way back out of the cemetery.
I was surprised little was said about FLW's Blue Sky Mausoleum or the Martins. They are both buried somewhere in the cemetery but their grave was not referenced. John Larkin is likewise resting there, but was not referenced. The docent did mention there was a specific tour for the FLW connections and I am sure she meant the All Wright All Day tour. They have a number of other specialty tours. You can visit their website which I have linked below if you want to check them out. Or, if computers still scare you (they do me!) you can call at 885-1600. The tours book up early and you likely will not be able to call today and get on a tour this Sunday; we had to schedule 3 weeks in advance. And yes, most of the tours are just on Sundays. So, if you are looking for something different and interesting to do, check it out. Oh, and remember to bring a pillow to sit on. After 2 hours those hard wooden seats on the trolley are painful.
www.forest-lawn.com
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