The Salt Lake City Cemetery encompasses over 250 acres. Approximately 120,000 persons are buried in the cemetery. (Sadie Slikker)
Fancy long walks in cemeteries and bite-sized Utah history lessons?
Look no further, Salt Lake City has several free self-guided walking tours through the grounds of Utah’s oldest cemetery.
Located in the Avenues neighborhood, with its main entrances along 4th Ave. and 11th Ave. between N St. and U St., the Salt Lake City Cemetery spans 250 acres, making it the largest city-run cemetery in the United States.
Orrin Porter Rockwell, Joseph Smith’s gunslinging bodyguard who left quite a notorious legacy in Utah,
Brigham Young’s son, Brigham Morris Young, who was a “cross-dressing soprano” and also went by Madame Patirini,/li>
Jane Manning James, the first female black Mormon pioneer,
Phebe Beatie, who was part of the Utah Suffragist movement,
Lilly E. Gray, who died in 1958 and whose gravestone only says, “Victim of the Beast 666.”
Important local religious and political leaders have been laid to rest in the Salt Lake City cemetery. Wilford Woodruff, David O. McKay, Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson are among the twelve presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints buried there.
The Salt Lake City Cemetery is also the final resting place for several former Utah governors, U.S. Senators, mayors, and University of Utah and Brigham Young University presidents, administrators and alumni.
Cemetery visitors can download colorful printouts of the maps and self-guided walking tours. Printed versions are available at the cemetery sexton’s house.
Click an image thumbnail to open the photo gallery.
The grave marker of Orrin Porter Rockwell in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Rockwell was a bodyguard and personal friend of Latter-Day Saint founder Joseph Smith. (Sadie Slikker)
An inscription on the grave marker of Orrin Porter Rockwell reads: “He was brave & loyal to his faith, true to the prophet Jos. Smith, A promise made him by the prophet thro obedience it was fulfilled.” (Sadie Slikker)
The grave marker of Jane Elizabeth Manning James. James is known for being one of the first recorded African-American women to enter Utah. (Sadie Slikker)
The gave marker of Elizabeth Moyle Webb in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Approximately 120,000 people are buried in the cemetery. (Sadie Slikker)
Rows of headstones in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The first burial occurred in September 1847, two months after the Mormon pioneers settled the Salt Lake Valley. (Sadie Slikker)
The grave marker for Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 12 church presidents are buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. (Sadie Slikker)
Rows of grave markers line the grounds of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, the largest city-operated cemetery in the United States. (Sadie Slikker)
The grave marker of Emily Sophia Tanner Richards, buried next to her husband, Franklin Snyder Richards, in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Emily Richards led the Utah Women’s Suffragist movement. (Sadie Slikker)
The grave marker of Lilly E. Gray in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Gray’s headstone bears the unique inscription: “Victim of the Best 666.” (Sadie Slikker)
