Forest Home Cemetery puts a nice program on Memorial Day. It starts with a Memorial Service in the Chapel and Veteran's Garden of Honor, then the Re-enactors tell their stories around their graves, and the day ends with a walking tour of History of Milwaukee around the cemetery. You could also buy lunch.
The rain stopped and we were able to see the re-enactors outside. There were 8 Milwaukee Citizens featured all with a part in the Civil War. The ones we heard didn't seem to see much of the battle. We only caught three or four of them because honestly they weren't very exciting. The best one was the woman who told the story of Quentus Brown, who was her neighbor and actually never lived in Milwaukee. He just happened to die in a boarding house fire in Milwaukee after the war.
After we listened to a couple of re-enactors we set out on our own walking tour to find the Beer Barons. As Stacy said, those are probably the most exciting tombs. As we meandered our way through the cemetery, I decided I need to become important so I can have a big obelisk tomb. Stacy said I just need to be wealthy. I said when I become important I will be wealthy so that will work.
We did eventually find the Beer Barons. And just like every good town in Wisconsin that has a bar on every corner, the four beer barons of Milwaukee are on the four corners on the same intersecting paths of the cemetery (or close enough).
Forest Home does do other guided tours throughout the year and some of them would be interesting to take, especially if I was closer. They also have pamphlets for self-guided tours. If you like green space and you don't mind walking among dead people, Forest Home Cemetery has over 400 acres to explore. It is shady enough that it won't be too hot on a summer day.
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