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Sure, spring may be a time for rebirth, but in southeast Michigan, where many of us haven’t been outside in months, it’s also a great time to visit Woodlawn Cemetery, home of Detroit's famous dead.
Though the city has a solid collection of historic cemeteries, none check the boxes of a proper outdoor adventure quite like Woodlawn, on Woodward near 7 Mile. At 124 years old, with miles of winding paths, a lake, and dozens of ornate mausoleums, it's essentially a nature center and art and history museum all rolled into one.
In recent years, Woodlawn has received national attention for significant funerals like that of Aretha Franklin and Rosa Parks. But it's long been a final resting place for Detroit's legendary. Also buried there are automobile magnates like John Francis Dodge, Horace Elgin Dodge, and Edsel Ford; Motown legends including Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, and Funk Brothers bassist James Jamerson; and politicians like former U.S. senator and Detroit mayor James J. Couzens, former Detroit mayor and Michigan governor Hazen Pingree, and former Detroit mayor and attorney general Alex Groesbeck.
The heavy hitters' graves range from modest to grand. Here's a sampling to hold you over 'til you get out there yourself — perhaps this weekend, when temperatures climb into the low 50s.
Levi Stubbs' headstone is as sweet as his voice. He and his wife Clineice were together for nearly 50 years.
Department store magnate Joseph L. Hudson's mausoleum.
The Ford family sarcophagi. Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford and the former president of Ford Motor Company, is buried here with his wife, Eleanor.
The Grinnell mausoleum. Grinnell Brothers was a music store and major piano manufacturer.
Groesbeck was the governor of Michigan from 1921 to 1927.
DeShaun Dupree Holton of D-12, who rapped under the moniker "Proof," is entombed in the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel. He died in a shooting.
Rosa Parks was interred in Woodlawn's chapel in 2005. It was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel in her honor.
The Rocky steps have nothing on former Detroit mayor James J. Couzens' mausoleum.
The Gordy family memorial.
Esther Gordy Edwards, Berry's older sister and creator of the Motown Museum, has a special grave marker at the family memorial.
The mausoleum of lumber baron David Whitney, whose former home you know as The Whitney restaurant in Midtown.
Gospel singer Ronald Winans and David Glenn “Pop” Winans, Sr. are buried near the cemetery's entrance.
Aretha Franklin is entombed in the cemetery's main mausoleum.
A pair of sphinx guard the Dodge brothers' mausoleum.
