Here are 10 famous graves you’ll want to visit – whether in-person or virtually: from Oscar Wilde to George Washington.
Some people have enduring legacies. Interest in their lives continues even after they have passed away. They attracted crowds during their lives, and continue to have a stream of visitors at their gravesites after death. This can sometimes mean they don’t get to “RIP” or “Rest in Peace” due to fans who pile mementos onto their gravesite or graverobbers who attempt to carry away remembrances from their grave.
From secret admirers to stolen skulls, here are the graves of 10 celebrities and their interesting stories.
Famous Graves: #1 – Oscar Wilde
Poet, playwright, and author Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) is buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France, the most visited cemetery in the world.
Wilde’s limestone gravestone depicts a flying winged figure which represents the concept of a poet as a messenger.
In 1908, an anonymous donor sponsored the sculpture at a cost of 2,000 pounds. It took nearly ten months to complete the sculpture.
For many years, visitors to Wilde’s grave left lipstick kisses, a symbol of love. Unfortunately, lipstick contains animal fat, which was absorbed into the porous limestone, causing permanent damage. Attempts to clean the stone caused further damage.
A fine of 9,000 euros was imposed in an effort to prevent fans from pressing their lipsticked-lips to the grave. But since most of the kissers were tourists who would quickly come and go, the fine did little to stop the practice. So in 2011, a glass barrier was added to make the gravestone a no-kiss zone.
Famous Graves: #2 – Elvis Presley
American singer and actor Elvis Presley ((January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), known as the “King of Rock and Roll” or simply “The King” actually had two graves.
In August of 1977, when Presley died of heart complications, he was buried in a Forest Hills Cemetery mausoleum in Memphis, Tennessee, next to his mother, Gladys.
But when fans frequently vandalized his grave, seeking souvenirs, Presley and his mother’s bodies were moved to their current resting place at Graceland, his 13.8-acre estate and mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
Admission to Elvis’ grave is included in the Graceland tour. Even though “The King” has been dead for nearly half a century, more than 600,000 people visit each year.
Free-admission walk-up visits to the Meditation Garden at Graceland, where the grave sites of Elvis and his family are located, are allowed during specific time periods.
Famous Graves: #3 – Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, led the country through some of its darkest hours of the American Civil War. His final resting place is marked by one of the most dramatic gravestone obelisks.
Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of their sons are buried at the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site.
The Lincoln Tomb, a National Historic Landmark, is constructed of brick and covered in granite. It has a 72-foot square base with large semi-circular rooms on two sides. Double sets of stairs lead to a terrace, topped with the 117-foot-tall obelisk.
At the corners of the gravestone obelisk are four bronze sculptures, representing the four Civil War military services—infantry, artillery, cavalry, and navy.
Grave Robbers
After Lincoln was shot by an assassin in 1865. His body lay in a white marble sarcophagus above-ground at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, until 1876.
At that time, a gang of counterfeiters from Chicago decided it could be profitable to steal the president’s body. The thugs included a small-time crime boss, a saloonkeeper, and a manufacturer of counterfeit nickels.
Their plan was to exchange the president’s body for a $200,000 ransom and the release of their fellow gang member, an expert engraver of counterfeit plates, from his 10-year prison sentence.
It seemed an easy target. Oak Ridge is a rural cemetery about 2 miles outside of town. There was just a single padlock on the door of the tomb. There was no night watchman, and no groundskeeper lived on site. The sarcophagus wasn’t even sealed with cement, just plaster of Paris.
Their scheme may have worked if the gang had experience with body-snatching, but they didn’t, so they hired someone else who did. However, the person they hired turned out to be a Secret Service double agent. He went with them on their would-be heist and reported the incident to his superior officer every step of the way.
So instead of getting their buddy out of prison, the gang members ended up in prison themselves. And Lincoln’s coffin was moved into a steel cage 10 feet below the floor of the Lincoln Tomb.
Abraham Lincoln Quotes
Abraham Lincoln was a scholar, voracious reader, orator, and lawyer. He was well known for his wisdom. Here are some famous Lincoln quotes:
- “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”
- “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
- “My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.”
- “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
- “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Lincoln could even laugh at himself. He said, “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Click HERE to see more information about Lincoln’s gravesite on the BillionGraves website.
Famous Graves: #4 – Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony is the most widely known suffragist of her generation. For decades, she traveled throughout the United States to circulate petitions, give speeches, and organize local women’s rights organizations. In 1872, she was even arrested for attempting to vote.
Yet for all her fame, Anthony was laid to rest under a humble white gravestone in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.
Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts. Her family later moved to Rochester, New York, where they became involved with the antislavery movement. Antislavery activists met at their farm nearly every Sunday, where they were sometimes joined by Frederick Douglass or William Lloyd Garrison.
Growing up in these circumstances, activism became a part of Anthony’s character. She gathered so many pamphlets, letters, and newspaper clippings about women’s voting rights into her sister’s attic that she nearly caused the floor to collapse!
Today, not far from Mt. Hope Cemetery, is the home where Anthony lived out the last 40 years of her life. From that home, Anthony led 15 other women to the nearby polling place, demanding to vote. The house is now part of the Susan B. Anthony Museum.
In 1979, a dollar coin was minted with the image of Susan B. Anthony on it. The coins are now collector’s items. Some of the uncirculated coins are valued at several dollars to more than $1,000, depending on the dates.
Each election day, many women make their way to Mt. Hope Cemetery where they place their “I Voted” stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s gravestone. We can safely assume she would be delighted.
Click HERE to see Susan B. Anthony’s gravestone on the BillionGraves website.
Famous Graves: #5 – Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) is considered to be one of the most influential scientists of all time, alongside greats such as Albert Einstein, Aristotle, and Galileo. Even Albert Einstein said that Isaac Newton was the smartest person who ever lived.
Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England, on Christmas Day 1642, as the only son of Isaac, a farmer, and his wife Hannah. His father died before he was born. His mother married again and had three more children.
Some of Newton’s most famous scientific discoveries included:
Gravity – Newton’s theory about gravity helped to explain the movements of the planets and the sun. It is known today as Newton’s law of universal gravitation.
Laws of Motion – Newton’s laws of motion were three fundamental laws of physics.
1) an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it
2) the force on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration
3) when two objects interact, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction
Calculus – Newton invented calculus, a type of math used in advanced engineering and science.
Reflecting Telescope – This type of telescope uses mirrors to reflect light and form an image. Almost all of the major telescopes used in astronomy today are reflecting telescopes.
Newton died on March 20th, 1726. The inscription on his gravestone reads, “Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit” which translates to, “He surpassed the race of man in understanding.”
And his epitaph says, “Here is buried Isaac Newton, knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colors thus produced. Diligent, sagacious, and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity, and the holy scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God, mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race!”
Famous Graves: #6 – William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) is widely recognized as the greatest playwright in the Western world. He has been dubbed England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”.
Shakespeare is actually buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, but a monument was erected in his honor at Westminster Abbey 124 years after his death.
Some thought that his remains should have been moved to Westminster Abbey in recognition of his great achievements. But the epitaph carved into the stone slab that covers Shakespeare’s grave deterred them. It is a curse against moving his bones. The curse (with modernized spelling) reads:
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
The Shakespeare monument at Westminster Abbey features a statue of the writer leaning on three books and a scroll. At the base of the statue, there are several carvings – the heads of three royals (symbolic of power), a dagger (symbolic of tragedy), a wreath (symbolic of immortality), and a mask (symbolic of drama).
Click HERE to read more about William Shakespeare and his final resting place.
Famous Graves: #7 – Babe Ruth
Baseball legend Babe Ruth is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, marked with a granite monument depicting Jesus blessing a little boy in a baseball uniform.
Ruth’s childhood dream of playing baseball started at age 7, when George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. was sent to a reform school, St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. The school’s disciplinarian was also a capable baseball player, and he helped mentor young Babe Ruth.
Eventually, Ruth became an American professional baseball player with a career in Major League Baseball that spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 to to 1935. He was best known for hitting 714 home runs over the course of his baseball career!
Yankee fans still make their way to Ruth’s final resting place to pay tribute to him by leaving a baseball, a bat, or flowers. In fact, when caretakers see people with Yankee caps wandering about the cemetery, they know right away which direction to point them in.
Famous Graves: #8 – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968), was a political activist, American Baptist minister, and philosopher best known for his leadership in the civil rights movement. He was assassinated in 1968.
King was originally buried in a family plot, next to his parents, at South-View Cemetery on Jonesboro Road in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1970, his body was reinterred across Auburn Avenue from the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Visitor Center on the grounds of the King Center.
His wife, Coretta Scott King, who died on January 30, 2006, was also buried elsewhere at first because the original tomb was designed to hold just one coffin. In November of 2006, Martin Luther King Jr.’s tomb was enlarged, and her body was reinterred next to her husband. Her body was moved again when her husband was reinterred in 1970.
A stunning reflective pool was added to the grounds in front of Freedom Hall to further honor the Kings and others who fought for freedom.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, where King’s grave is located, spans about 35 acres (0.14 km2). King’s boyhood home and the Ebenezer Baptist Church — where King and his father, Martin Luther King Sr., were both pastors — are also located within the park. The park is managed by the National Park Service and has a visitor center and museum.
The inscription on the King’s gravestone reads, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13:13”
Martin Luther King Quotes
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
- “He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.”
- “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
- “The time is always right to do the right thing”
- “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools”
Famous Graves: #9 – Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), of the British royal family, was the first wife of Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her natural charm and political activism made her a popular international icon.
To ensure privacy, Diana was interred on an island in the middle of Oval Lake at her childhood home on the Althorp estate. Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, wrote in his book Althorp: The Story of an English House that the spot was chosen to “act as a buffer against the interventions of the insane and ghoulish, the thick mud presenting a further line of defense. We all agreed that, with its beauty and tranquillity, this was the place for Diana to be”.
Despite the secluded location, Diana’s coffin was targeted four times by graverobbers. Each attempt was thwarted and the robbers were run off.
The lake and island surrounding Diana’s resting place were a muddy, overgrown mess. Her former chef, Darren McGrady, posted his outrage on Twitter about the neglected state of her gravesite.
The British royals listened and responded with a makeover. The grounds were completely renovated at a cost of 27 million dollars.
After being cleaned for the first time in 350 years, Diana’s final resting place was transformed from wild overgrown vegetation surrounded by muddied waters to a beautifully landscaped island in a sparkling clear lake.
Princess Diana’s gravesite is not accessible to the public, but visitors can honor her at a memorial on the property. In November 2023, Diana’s brother, Charles, posted a photo of the building on Instagram and wrote, “A special corner of Althorp, this morning.”
Famous Graves: #10 – George Washington
George Washington, military general and first president of the United States of America is buried at the Mount Vernon estate in Fairfax County, Virginia in the Washington family tomb.
The remains of his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis, and 25 other family members are also entombed there. Although George Washington never had any biological children, he was surrounded by a large family made up of step-children, siblings, nieces, nephews, and step-grandchildren.
Washington died at home in his bedchamber on December 14, 1799. His final will expressed his wish to be buried at Mount Vernon.
The family’s burial vault was deteriorating, so before his death, Washington made provisions for a new brick tomb to be constructed after he passed away. In 1831, Washington’s body was transferred to the new tomb, along with the remains of his wife and other family members.
Today, the wooded grounds and brick entry surrounding the Washington family’s final resting place is a fitting legacy to honor the first president of the United States and his family.
George Washington Quotes
- “Laugh not at the misfortune of others.”
- “Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
- “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”
- “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”
Click HERE to learn more about George Washington’s gravesite.
Preserving History
These 10 famous graves, the people they represent, and their incredible stories are part of our collective history.
Protecting celebrity graves can sometimes be an ongoing chore for cemetery caretakers. They work hard to preserve history. You can help preserve history too by taking photos of gravestones in your area with the BillionGraves app, whether the individuals buried there are well-known or obscure.
Volunteer
BillionGraves needs volunteers to take photos of gravestones. Click HERE to learn how. If you photograph your local cemetery and I photograph mine, we’ll all be able to find our ancestors from wherever we are!
If you are planning a large group project, email us at Volunteer@BillionGraves.com and we will be happy to send you some additional resources.
Happy Cemetery Hopping!
Cathy Wallace
