Cleveland’s historic cemeteries hold more than the stories of those laid to rest there. These final resting places preserve the history of the people who shaped Cleveland—from baseball history and Civil Rights to the human cost of building the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Canalway's Cleveland Buried History Days returns Thursday, Oct. 22 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 25.The 2026 Cleveland Buried History Days, presented by nonprofit Canalway—which serves as a catalyst for projects and programs in the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area to preserve the natural and cultural sites—returns Thursday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 25, with tours, hikes, presentations, and family-friendly activities that invite visitors to explore the people and places behind Cleveland’s past.

“This is Canalway’s third annual Buried History Days,” says Meghan Tinker Paynter, Canalway’s director of communications. “Like our summer series, Cleveland History Days, we want this event to take people to explore historic spaces they don’t often see.”

Stories beyond the headstones
Tinker Paynter says cemeteries are often spaces people don’t normally think to visit as historic sites. However, she points out that “Cleveland cemeteries are, in fact, full of history, art, architecture, symbolism, and human stories.”
Participating cemeteries:

• Canalway's Take a Hike at Erie Street Cemetery.Woodland Cemetery
  
• Riverside Cemetery
• Erie Street Cemetery
• Lake View Cemetery
• Brookmere Cemetery
• Monroe Street Cemetery

But cemeteries are not the only places in the spotlight in Canalway’s Buried History.

Baseball, Civil Rights, and Canal history
During Buried History Days, visitors can learn about Cleveland baseball player Ray Chapman, who died after being struck by a pitch on Aug. 17, 1920.

Lake View Cemetery.Also featured is John “Father John” Malvin, a 19th-century man of many trades and Civil Rights activist who often spoke on behalf of the Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society and was active in the Underground Railroad.

Canal workers’ stories take center stage
Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) Interpretive Park Ranger Rebecca Jones, a 37-year veteran of CVNP, will speak at Canal History: The Haunting of Cemeteries on Friday, Oct. 23, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens about workers whose lives changed during the 1913 flood of the Ohio & Erie Canal.

The program is part of Canalway’s broader focus on the canal and its influence on Ohio and Cleveland ahead of the 200th anniversary of the first boat to travel on the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Jones will explore the stories of workers on the Ohio & Erie Canal, why we don’t find canal workers in local cemeteries, and where they sometimes wound up. Registration is requested.

“In addition to tours of historic cemeteries, this year’s Buried History Days features a presentation titled ‘Canal History: The Haunting of Cemeteries’ where Park Ranger Rebecca Jones will speak on the human cost of the building of the Ohio & Erie Canal, and why so few canal workers are found in Cleveland’s historic cemeteries,” Paynter says.

Riversude Cemetery.The anniversary offers an opportunity to look beyond the canal’s role in transportation and commerce to consider the people who built it and the lives they led. Canalway plans to highlight those stories over the coming year.

The events are designed to “enlighten, not frighten,” pairing people’s interest in the Halloween season with opportunities to learn about Cleveland’s past.

“People tend to avoid the idea of death, so they don’t consider cemeteries as places to visit,” Paynter says. “But historic cemeteries are some of the city’s first parks and greenspaces. While we need to be respectful of these places because of their meaning and importance, they are places that hold…so many interesting stories.”

Through Buried History Days, organizers hope visitors will develop a stronger connection to Cleveland and a better understanding of the people who called the city home.

“We hope Buried History Days helps people connect to their city and helps them learn about people of the past who called it home,” Paynter says.

Thse full schedule, participating organizations, and ticket information are available on Canalway’s Buried History Days website.