Popularly touted as “Madison’s oldest Art Museum, open to the public for more than 200 years,” Madison’s historic cemeteries offer a stirring collection of stone carvings and ornate iron works adorned with symbolic grave art.

As the City of Madison’s largest greenspace, the historic cemeteries are actually four separate cemeteries that border each other: Old Madison Cemetery, New Cemetery, Fairview Cemetery and Madison Memorial Cemetery.

It’s easy to spend a whole afternoon exploring the hauntingly beautiful and poignant burial grounds. Among the graves are the final resting places of those enslaved, prominent citizens, children, farmers and business people.

The graves of more than 450 known Military Veterans include soldiers from both World Wars and the American Revolution. Confederate Soldiers are memorialized throughout the cemetery, including those who died in Confederate Hospitals in Madison along with African-American hospital attendants.

In Old Cemetery you will find the graves of Physician Elijah Jones, who resided in Madison’s Heritage Hall (c. 1811), and Adeline Rose, who was born into slavery and built her own home Rose Cottage (c. 1893), which are both now historic house museums open for touring.

For more information, visit madisoncemeteries.com

Free to the Public

April – September:
7:00 am – 8:00 pm

October – March:
7:00 am – 6:00 pm

(706) 342-1251