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GENERAL TOURS
May 1 through October 31
Saturday at 1 pm and Sunday at 2 pm
Admission: Free
Meet: North Gatehouse (opposite Robinson Drive). Parking inside cemetery.
These tours consist of a two-hour leisurely walk of approximately one mile on paved roads and uneven terrain. Subjects covered include local history, famous people (including Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass), horticulture, geology, physical geography, architecture, symbolism and more. Refreshments served following the tours. Refreshments following the tours.


TWILIGHT TOURS
May 11 through August 12
Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 pm
Admission: $4/person. Free to members of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery
Meet: North Gatehouse (opposite Robinson Drive). Parking inside cemetery.
These 90-minute tours will include topics covered on the general tour as well as new material.
Refreshments following the tours.


THEME TOURS
Tours last approximately two hours.
Admission: $4/person. Free to members of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery   
Refreshments following the tours. Parking inside the cemetery, except for the Torch Light Tours.

Saturday, June 12, 10:00 am -- Tour Guide Richard Reisem
FAMOUS ARTISTS
Visit interesting monuments designed by artists and the graves of famous artists buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Friday, June 18, 7:00 pm -- Tour Guide Dennis Carr
MISCHIEF, MURDER & MAYHEM
Meet some of Mount Hope Cemetery's "permanent residents" who bent, broke or enforced the law.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, June 19, 11:00 am -- Tour Guide Ed Olinger
HORTICULTURE & LANDSCAPE
Mount Hope Cemetery was designed on the "rural" or "garden" cemetery model, and the story of its landscape and plantings is as fascinating as the stories of its "permanent residents."
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Sunday, June 27, 10:00 am -- Tour Guide Joel Elliot
JEWISH ROOTS
Explore the enormous contribution of Rochester's Jewish community.
Meet: Cemetery Office -- south entrance opposite the Distillery restaurant

Saturday, July 17, 10:00 am -- Tour Guide Patricia Corcoran
STORIES OF THE FAMOUS & FORGOTTEN
Stroll Mount Hope's paved, flat-surfaced Grove Avenue. Learn about the many notable families buried in beautiful mausoleums and artistic family plots.
Meet: Cemetery Office -- south entrance opposite the Distillery restaurant

Saturday, July 31, 12:30 pm -- Tour Guides Brian Bennett/Marilyn Nolte
THE CIVIL WAR TOUR
The Civil War told against the backdrop of Mount Hope Cemetery with a focus on local involvement. This tour covers new themes each year.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, August 7, 12:00 noon -- Tour Guides R. Dreeson, S. Clarke, D. Carr
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR TOUR
The American Revolution told through the lives of veterans buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. Covers action that took place in New York State.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Friday, August 13, 6:30pm -- Tour Guide Dennis Carr
MISCHIEF, MURDER & MAYHEM
Meet some of Mount Hope Cemetery's permanent residents who bent, broke or enforced the law.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, August 14, 11:30 am -- Tour Guide Nancy Uffindell
ROCHESTER & THE LEGENDARY ERIE CANAL
The Erie Canal fueled our nation's westward expansion. It made Rochester a boom town, and New York the Empire State. Meet some of Mount Hope Cemetery's famous and less famous people and explore their important connections to this legendary waterway.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, September 11, 12:00 noon -- Tour Guide Emil Homerin
SPEAKING STONES
An examination of symbols, inscriptions and funerary art that expressed views of life, death and immortality in the 19th century.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, September 18, 12:30 pm -- Tour Guide Bill Chaisson
GEOLOGY AT MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY
The really ancient history of Mount Hope Cemetery with geologist Bill Chaisson.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, October 23, 12:00 noon -- Tour Guide Ed Olinger
FALL FOLIAGE TOUR
Enjoy the variety and beauty of Mount Hope Cemetery's trees in autumn.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive

Saturday, October 23, 6:30pm & Tuesday, October 26, 6:30 pm
GRAND TORCH LIGHT TOURS (formerly Grand Luminaria tours)
The finale to the tour season with a special tour path lit by torch lights.
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive
Check back later in the season for information about ticket sales for this special tour.


Special Event
FAMILY FUN & LEARNING AT MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY
Saturday, June 26 at 11:00 am
Admission: $6/family. Free for members of the Friends of Mount Hope
Meet: North Gatehouse opposite Robinson Drive. Parking inside cemetery

Explore a small section of Mount Hope as a family group. Construct a timeline. Participate in a scavenger hunt to find and learn about monuments, religious symbols, and other interesting facets of Victorian cemeteries. Bring dictionary, clipboard, paper and pencil.

Refreshments following the event.
 

"Rochester's Rich History"
SUNDAY PROGRAMS AT THE CENTRAL LIBRARY
2 pm - 3:30 pm in the Kate Gleason Auditorium
Located in the Bausch and Lomb Public Library Building, 115 South Avenue
Events are free. Refreshments will be served.
Parking is free on Sundays at the Court Street Garage.


May 16 -- "Mischief, Murder, and Mayhem"
Presenter: Dennis Carr, Vice President of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery

Learn how the history of law enforcement in Rochester is represented in the dramatic stories of men and women interred at Mount Hope.


Past Programs in this Series:

January 17 -- "Buried Treasures in Mount Hope Cemetery"
Presenter: Richard Reisem, trustee of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery and author of 10 books, including Mount Hope: America's First Municipal Victorian Cemetery and Buried Treasures in Mount Hope Cemetery.

A third of a million Rochesterians have taken up permanent residence in Mount Hope Cemetery, and an illustrious and interesting 500 of them have mini-bios in the book Buried Treasures in Mount Hope Cemetery. Memorializing these people from the past are diverse and fascinating monuments that decorate the undulating landscape created by glaciers. It is all glorious to behold, and the stories are captivating to hear.

February 21 -- Three Stories of Hope and Survival: The Impact of Epidemics on Families in Rochester, NY
Presenters: Patricia Corcoran and Peggy Weston Byrd, retired from the Rochester City School District and members of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery.

Patricia Corcoran will introduce two families, the Killicks and Bentleys. In 1854, the Killicks lost seven family members to cholera in ten days. Harriet Bentley, founder of the Harley School, succumbed to Spanish Flu in 1918 at age thirty-three, leaving four young daughters. Peggy Weston Byrd will introduce her relatives, the Bernard Van Ingen Family, who lost four of their six children to diphtheria and croup in one week in September 1875. Bernard was Byrd's great grand uncle.

Genealogy and anecdotal information for these stories includes information from Mount Hope Cemetery, the Local History Division of the RMC Central Library, the Monroe County Office of Vital Statistics, original documents, and interviews with surviving family members.

March 21 -- Missing Mansions, East Avenue Then and Now
Presenter: Don Hall, trustee of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, Director of the Strasenburgh Planetarium for 25 years, author of articles published in "Maine Antique Digest," "Art & Antiques," "Style 1900" and the "Journal of the American Art Pottery Association."

Rochester's East Avenue remains one of the best preserved gateway streets entering any city in the United States. Still, many of the millionaires' homes that lined the avenue have disappeared, sometimes including very early structures that gave way to more elaborate buildings, which in turn yielded to mansions. Through the use of historic and contemporary photos, Hall contrasts the vanished East Avenue with the present, including showing adaptive re-use of many fine homes.

April 18 -- "I Take Thy Hand:" Isaac and Amy Post, Spiritualism, and Progressive Reform in 19th Century Rochester
Presenter: Caitlin Powalski, graduate of University of Rochester with a degree in history.

Amy and Isaac Post, leading social activists at the height of Rochester's Progressive Era, were involved in abolition, women's rights, temperance, and nonviolence movements. They also rejected the traditional Quaker faith in favor of local Spiritualist circles. The Posts found Spiritualism to be an ideal conduit for the religious and social reform that they advocated in their everyday life. For Isaac, in particular, Spiritualism became an all-consuming force that led both to his development as a medium and his aggressive use of Spiritualism as a means to organize, publicize and validate his social reform efforts.