Mount Auburn Cemetery, the forerunner of Crown Hill, was founded in Boston in 1831. Within a few years, William Ellery Channing, one of the city's leading clergyman, was urging youths to visit the cemetery so that they could "learn from the exemplary lives of the notables interred there and be sobered by thoughts of the shortness of life. Thus they would return home with new resolve to work hard and to do good."

Our aim in preparing this guide has not been quite so high, but if that is a side effect of a visit to Crown Hill, we'll gladly take it. Our goal has been to show you, the teacher, that this is a place to get a little closer to history, to immerse oneself in nature, to surround your class with art, and to set up a number of other special learning opportunities.

In addition to this guide, we invite you to take advantage of Crown Hill's other resources. Each year, thousands of students take our Heritage Tour, a ninety minute walk from the Gothic Chapel to the top of the Crown and back, with various stops along the way to talk about our history and historical figures. Other more specialized tours are available on the Civil War, Politicians, Pioneers, Authors, African-Americans, Art & Architecture, and other subjects. Many groups take a guided tour, picnic in a designated area, and then engage in other self-directed activities for an additional hour or two. A nominal fee is charged for a guided tour, the proceeds of which are used for education and cemetery restoration.

Several publications are also available to help you. These include the already mentioned Tree Map and a special Tour Booklet. Please contact the Public Relations Department for further information and/or to schedule your guided tour or any self-directed activity.

Former Senator Albert S. White concluded his dedicatory remarks on June 1, 1864, by expressing the hope that the cemetery would help "connect the present with the past, and keep up our association with the fleeting years. ... Let it be the glory of Crown Hill that the rich and the poor, the proud and the humble, alike may enter here, ... where the marble monument, not only, shall be preserved inviolate, but where the written records of its silent inmates shall be transmitted from generation to generation and carefully kept from moth and worm."

Much has been said of the historical nature of Crown Hill and we hope this guide helps you and your students appreciate its history even more. But we also hope to connect the past with the present and arouse in everyone the desire to return again and again, whether it is to appreciate anew its natural beauty, its human adornments, or its being a quiet place to come and and soothe the imagination.Ó We want all to see Crown Hill not just as a place of the dead and past, but as a place for the living.

Location:

700 West 38th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208
Public Relations, Tours, and Events: (317) 920-2726
Cemetery Office: (317) 925-8231
Funeral Home: (317) 925-3800
Fax: (317) 925-8240
www.crownhill.org

Hours:

Gates open 365 days a year
8 am - 6 pm, April - September 8 am - 5pm October - March
Call for office hours

Important Events:

• Race Through Hoosier History, early March
• Spring Memorial Service, late April
• Memorial Day, late May
• Tour Fest, late July
• Pres. Harrison's Wreath Laying Ceremony, late August
• A Picnic with Riley at Sunset, early October
• Candlelight Memorial Service, early December

Publications:

Crown Hill Tree Map, Tour Brochure, Calendar of Events, Crown Hill Review Newsletter
Crown Hill Visitor's Guide
A Tour of Historic Crown Hill Cemetery, $5
Other materials and tour guides are available. Consult the Public Relations Department.

Special Features:

A Historic Slide Presentation for adult groups
A wide variety of guided tours for all ages may be scheduled in advance to suit your needs.
Contact Public Relations Department for details

Related Historical Sites:

Crown Hill residents once lived in the following homes currently open for tours:

James Whitcomb Riley Home, 528 Lockerbie Street, 631-5885
Benjamin Harrison Home, 1230 North Delaware, 631-1898
Morris/Butler House, 1204 North Park Avenue, 636-5409

Other Area Museums and Attractions:

Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1200 West 38th Street, 923-1331
The Children's Museum, 3000 North Meridian, 924-5437
Indianapolis Zoo, 1200 West Washington, 630-2001 Eiteljorg Museum
of Western Art, 500 W. Washington, 636-9378 Indiana State Museum, 202 North Alabama, 232-1637
Indianapolis Motor Speedway & Museum, 4790 West 16th Street, 484-6747
Indiana State Capitol Building, Market at Capitol, 232-8880
Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Monument Circle, 233-3247
Indiana Medical History Museum, 3000 West Washington, 639-7329

We request that all groups coming to Crown Hill contact the Public Relations Department to make arrangements. We want to make your visit as enjoyable and educational as possible. Restroom facilities for groups are located in the Community Mausoleum.

Please remember too that Crown Hill is a very active cemetery; groups will need to be respectful of those who have come for funerals, etc.

Come soon.