The Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex Walking Tour
Ninety minutes among thirteen cemeteries and 35,000 lives, with the historian who documented them.
Alexandria’s Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex is fifty-two acres of hallowed ground where thirteen cemeteries, founded between 1796 and 1933, sit shoulder to shoulder behind their own walls and gates. More than 35,000 people rest here: two of George Washington’s pallbearers, Revolutionary War patriots, the senior general of the Confederacy, thousands of Union soldiers, a Cold War spy, and the ordinary Alexandrians whose stories turn out to be anything but ordinary. This walk is the way to meet them.
At a Glance
Length
About 90 minutes, covering 1 to 1.5 miles on mostly flat ground with a few gentle rises, ending where it began
When
Thursday through Saturday throughout the season. The current calendar is on Viator.
Price
$30 per person, booked through Viator. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour.
Group Size
Capped at 25 guests — individuals, couples, and small parties always welcome
Meeting Point
Wilkes Street & Hamilton Avenue (1475–1501 Wilkes Street), near the Methodist Protestant Cemetery entrance
Included
The official Walking Companion e-book — a $15 illustrated edition, free with your ticket
Who You’ll Meet
The route crosses six of the thirteen cemeteries, passing from one burial ground into the next, and the stories are chosen for the ground under your feet. Among the people you may meet along the way:
No two walks are quite the same. The route is shaped by the day, the weather, and the group: on a hot afternoon a stop or two may give way, and when a group leans toward the Revolution or the Civil War, the walk leans with them. Your guide reads the group, and if a question sends the walk down a new lane, it goes there.
Told From the Research, Not a Script
David Heiby is not a hired guide reading a card. He is the superintendent of the complex’s historic Presbyterian Cemetery and the founder of Gravestone Stories, the digital museum that has documented the more than 35,000 burials of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex. The stops on this walk come from his own work in court records, pension files, hospital ledgers, and cemetery archives, and from fieldwork with ground-penetrating radar that has relocated graves lost for nearly two hundred years.
That research is cited by the Library of Virginia’s Dictionary of Virginia Biography and by the City of Alexandria’s National Register nomination for the complex. On the tour it shows up as documents you can hold, photographs you can compare with the stones in front of you, and answers to the questions a guidebook cannot handle.
What’s Included
- A 90-minute walk led by David Heiby, the historian who documented the complex
- Entry to the cemeteries on the route, including gates most visitors never pass through
- The official Walking Companion e-book — an illustrated edition with the stops in walking order, the full two-panel walking map, and companion guides to all four Gravestone Stories tours. A $15 edition, free with your tour. Your guide will show you how to claim it at the end of the walk.
Bring your own water. There are no restrooms inside the complex, so plan ahead before the walk begins.
Where to Meet
Meet
Wilkes Street & Hamilton Avenue
1475–1501 Wilkes Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Near the Methodist Protestant Cemetery entrance. Your guide will be wearing Gravestone Stories clothing and a name tag.
By Car
Enter the complex at 1300 Wilkes Street and park near the Wilkes Street & Hamilton Avenue intersection. Free street parking is plentiful, though weekends are busier.
By Metro & Trolley
From King Street–Old Town station, take the free King Street Trolley to the King St & West St stop, walk two blocks south on South West Street, cross Roundhouse Lane through the small park to the 1300 Wilkes Street entrance, and continue one block west to Hamilton Avenue.
On foot from Old Town: walk west on Wilkes Street about a mile from the Lee Street Park tunnel.
Full directions, parking notes, and what to expect on the ground are on our Plan Your Walk page.
Good to Know
What Guests Say
Prefer a Private Tour?
Private tours of the complex are welcome at any size — from a single guest to a group of 25 — for couples, families, clubs, chapters, offices, and conferences, on weekdays outside the public schedule. The rate is $30 per person with a $300 minimum, which covers any party from one guest to ten. Schools and educators may request a complimentary tour by advance arrangement. Start with the private tour request form and we will take it from there.
Request a Private TourPrefer to Walk on Your Own?
The whole complex can be explored with our free self-guided walking map, and the Alexandria National Cemetery — the resting place of some 3,900 Civil War soldiers and 249 U.S. Colored Troops — is open to everyone at no charge with its own free self-guided guide. The map shows you where. The tour tells you why.
Download the Free MapThirteen cemeteries. Thirty-five thousand lives. One walk to start with.
Ninety minutes on the ground with the historian who documented it.