Group Visits

Dear Teacher or Youth Leader:The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery offer you an outstanding opportunity to integrate your instructional objectives with a field trip experience to reinforce classroom instruction in grades 4 through 12.1. You need to let us know what the academic purpose of your visit is. We can support tours focused on Abolition, Women's Suffrage, Civil War and 19th and 20th century Rochester historical figures. Many teachers use Mt. Hope to discuss architecture, symbolism, customs of death, geology, etc. Once we know your academic goals, we will be able to fashion an interesting tour for your students based on their age levels and academic experiences.

2. We provide tours which last from one and a half to two hours. Our docents are experienced and very excited to share their knowledge of the cemetery with your students.

3. We encourage your students to be active participants. For example, if they have done research on a particular topic, we welcome their presentations.

4. Many teachers bring parents with the group. Parents are valuable resources, and their enthusiasm is contagious.

What a Tour of Mount Hope Cemetery is NOT:

1. A tour of Mount Hope is not a good choice for school groups that have not yet studied New York State history.

2. A tour of Mount Hope is not a good choice for an end of the year or Halloween field trip.

3. Because Mount Hope is a working cemetery, this tour is not a trip for students who cannot be attentive and respectful.

4. Obviously, talking on cell phones, texting, etc. are inappropriate during a tour.

We look forward to working with your students. With your help, we can make a tour of Mount Hope a favorite field trip destination for your class.

Be Respectful At All Times -- We invite you to enjoy our magnificent cemetery. It is a place of majestic trees, abundant wildlife, historic buildings, and thousands of monuments and memorials to those who have preceded us.

As you walk or drive through our 196 acres, keep in mind that every stone represents an individual's life, filled with joy and sorrow, success and failure, love and anger; all the unique attributes that make us human. Death has taken them, but they are with us still as long as they remain in our collective memory. A cemetery reflects the honor, respect, and devotion that our civilized society accords its dead. It is a place of memories -- a place to reflect on the past, contemplate the present, and consider the future.

Mount Hope is an active cemetery. Those you see within the cemetery grounds may well be in need of solitude and the quiet and peaceful surrounding afforded by a cemetery. It is well that each of us respects an individual's need to honor and mourn those for whom they held a true affection.

Sincerely,
Chris Petote, Special Tour Coordinator
Email:   [email protected]