Digging into a forgotten past—and the dead left behind
What started as an Alta Journalstory has evolved into a full-length book. Winegarner traces the history of San Francisco’s early cemeteries and exposes the more than 50,000 graves that have been unearthed or are still resting beneath the city.
Alta Online
Every day, San Franciscans rise to roam the earth. They commute, stroll, and drive, most unaware that beneath their feet lie thousands of graves....
...Winegarner’s latest book, a combination of storytelling and investigative journalism, dives into the many cemeteries that ascribe San Francisco’s history. Winegarner discusses the burial, relocation and oversight of the city’s earliest cemeteries which, until recently, left thousands of the deceased forgotten....
Gilare Zada, Mission Local
In the early 20th century, San Francisco relocated 150,000 graves to the nearby town of Colma so the city could expand. So does that mean there aren’t any graves in the city? Not at all, according to author Beth Winegarner.
Bay City Books, Local News Matters
All this barely scratches the surface of the many grim realities uncovered in San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries. But Winegarner makes absorbing this macabre information bearable — even thrilling at times — through calm and careful writing.
Rae Alexandra, KQED
Journalist Beth Winegarner shares my obsession with cemeteries. Her newest book is “San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History,” which comes out today. In the book, she looks into the cemeteries that used to lie beneath the Presidio Parade Ground, the Asian Art Museum, what’s now a Target, and much more.
Loren Rhoads, Cemetery Travel
With a sweet dedication to the forgotten dead of San Francisco, Winegarner transports us from one century to the next with fascinating details of the city’s death industry.
TJ Payne, Broke Ass Stuart
San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History, the newest book from local author Beth Winegarner, is out now. Beth stopped by the podcast to discuss the role the city's dead have on infrastructure (which includes public transit, as you'll learn in this episode), early NIMBY antics, and our civic responsibility to residents who've passed on.
The story is much more complex and far reaching than I could ever cover in an hour, so if you were as fascinated as I was by the story of San Francisco’s ill-fated cemeteries, I encourage you to check out @bethwinegarner new book, “San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History” published by @historypress an imprint of @arcadia_publishing.
Despite the theme, Winegarner’s writing is lively. It is emotional. It is passionate. And it’s meticulously researched. There’s considerable information online in bits and pieces, but her book lays out the history in one engrossing story.
Bonnee Waldstein, Glen Park Association Newsletter
Winegarner, who’s descended from a family of morticians, asks whether public buildings can properly coexist with sacred spaces and what is owed to the dead who may have been moved more than once. Woven throughout her book are many astonishing facts about San Francisco’s burial grounds.
Astrid Kane, The San Francisco Standard
Winegarner, who’s descended from a family of morticians, asks whether public buildings can properly coexist with sacred spaces and what is owed to the dead who may have been moved more than once. Woven throughout her book are many astonishing facts about San Francisco’s burial grounds.
Astrid Kane, San Francisco Standard
When in San Francisco you could be walking over thousands of forgotten graves. Join us on this week’s PreserveCast as we talk with Beth Winegarner about her book San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History. Beth will take us through why San Francisco’s cemetery history, relocation, and the oversight that left thousands of graves and their deceased behind.
The buried bodies, around 7,000 in total, were supposed to be moved to other cemeteries.
“The truth is that most of the people buried at Yerba Buena are still there,” Winegarner said. It’s not the first time grave sites have not been properly moved out of San Francisco.
Julie Zigoris, San Francisco Standard
