Exploring the Grave: Forest Lawn's 175 Year History

Forest Lawn Cemetery is proud to welcome Allison Meier as the keynote speaker for our 175th anniversary celebration!

Although people have always cared for their dead, what a grave looks like has radically changed over time, from simple interments in the ground to elaborate mausolea. Since Forest Lawn opened 175 years ago, there have been changes in this final statement, including the personalization of memorial markers and the rise of cremation. Allison C. Meier, author of Grave (Bloomsbury, 2023), explores this history and the ways the grave is still changing in her research, writing, and time as a cemetery tour guide.

Author’s remarks at the Buffalo History Museum will be complemented by a VIP trolley tour with Meier in Forest Lawn. The tour will highlight burial sites relating to and contextualizing the themes of the talk. Even if you are a Forest Lawn regular, on this tour participants will consider what the grave has been and what it could be through visits to grand, curious, humble, and inventive memorials across the cemetery.