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Established in 1879 on 111th Street in the Beverly area of Chicago, Mount Greenwood Cemetery is an open-air museum that reflects three centuries of history. The Victorian cemetery--with its large, decorative monuments set on a rolling landscape amid winding roads--is an oasis treasured by its neighbors and by families whose loved ones rest there. It is home to educators, artists, veterans, businessmen, social reformers, ministers, and everyday people. The grounds also host heroes who stepped up in a time of need and people who lost their lives in epidemics and horrific disasters. On any given day, joggers in colorful gear can be seen running past a group on a brisk morning walk. Signs announce an upcoming history program or 5K race. Workers plant flowers on the grounds, while family historians ponder the memorials. A Civil War group places markers on veterans' tombstones. Members of a service organization walk to their monument, planning an event. A group of schoolchildren examines graves, and a journalist snaps a photograph.

From the heartbreak of dozens of families burying their children after the notorious Our Lady of Angels School Fire to the serenity of a grieving mother, who six years after the death of her daughter finds her wedding-clad body in peaceful repose; from the lawlessness of the bootleg era, punctuated by such ignominious figures as Al Capone and Dean O'Banion, to the patriotic triumph of one of the flag bearers of Iwo Jima, Mount Carmel and Queen of Heaven Cemeteries have provided the final chapter in the colorful lives and tragic events that have marked the city of Chicago for the last century. It denotes the final resting place of the churches' bishops and cardinals as well as the city's beloved parents, grandparents, and children. Mount Carmel and Queen of Heaven Cemeteries offers a unique glimpse into the history of Chicago during a time that saw massive immigration, rising industrialization, two world wars, and numerous tragedies, by chronicling the lives and stories behind the individuals who are interred there.

Springfield's historic Oak Ridge Cemetery is accounted second only to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., as the most visited cemetery in the United States. The burial place of Abraham Lincoln, Oak Ridge's dramatically landscaped grounds are an important contribution to American landscape architecture. A portrait of Victorian sentimentalizing of death, Oak Ridge provides a sublime backdrop for contemplating life. Unlike grim churchyards and bleak graveyards, rural cemeteries are places of great beauty for the living who continue to use them for walking, riding, and quiet reflection. But Oak Ridge's peacefulness has occasionally been disturbed, as in 1876 when gunfire rang out while secret service agents attempted to catch grave robbers who had broken into the Lincoln Tomb.

Built on a ridge named for the great Native American spirit Manitou, Chippiannock Cemetery has honored the dead of Rock Island County for over 150 years. Chippiannock, which means "village of the dead" in the Sauk and Fox languages, is truly a village. People from all walks of life are buried in the majestic rolling grounds. From railroad and lumber barons to blacksmiths and riverboat captains, here one will find the people who made this land along the Mississippi River thrive. Upon stepping through the gates of Chippiannock, one finds memorials to the dead, ranging from artistic and stately to simple or humble. Each stone tells a story-whether it is a cenotaph in honor of Civil War major general John Buford or the two Dimick children who passed away on the same day in 1878 of diphtheria. Today Chippiannock remains an active, "living" cemetery, beloved by locals and considered a jewel of the Quad Cities.