Skip to content
Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, IL

Photo: MrHarman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

SightseeingHistory BuffLocal Gem

Oak Woods Cemetery

Pay respects at the South Side graves of Jesse Owens, Ida B. Wells, Harold Washington and Enrico Fermi, and see the Civil War Confederate Mound.

1035 East 67th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 · Chicago, IL

About Oak Woods Cemetery

Oak Woods is a 183-acre lawn cemetery on Chicago's South Side, chartered in 1853 with curving drives laid out by Adolph Strauch. Jesse Owens, Ida B. Wells, Mayor Harold Washington, physicist Enrico Fermi and gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey are buried here. Confederate Mound is a mass grave of prisoners who died at Camp Douglas, with a monument listing more than 4,000 names. It is still an active cemetery, so keep visits quiet and respectful.

  • #historic cemetery
  • #civil war
  • #african american history
  • #graves of famous people
  • #south side

What's around here?

The closest stops to Oak Woods Cemetery, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Jackson Park

    Check prices

    Stroll the lagoons and Japanese garden on Wooded Island, swim at two Lake Michigan beaches and find relics of the 1893 World's Fair.

    0.8 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Sports & Outdoors
    History Buff

    Midway Plaisance

    Check prices

    Walk the mile-long park where the 1893 World's Fair put the first Ferris wheel, then see Lorado Taft's Fountain of Time at the west end.

    1.0 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Museums

    Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa

    Under $25

    University of Chicago museum and research institute devoted to the ancient past of West Asia and North Africa.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    1.1 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Frederick C. Robie House

    Under $25

    Tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style house in Hyde Park, with its cantilevered roofs and art glass.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    1.2 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    History Buff

    Victory Monument

    Check prices

    See Bronzeville's granite and bronze memorial to the Eighth Illinois, the Black regiment that fought in France in World War I.

    4.1 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing
    Foodie Favorite

    Chinatown

    No admission fee

    You walk under the Wentworth Avenue gate to dim sum houses, tea and ceramics shops, zodiac statues and the Nine Dragon Wall.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    5.8 mi awayMore like this

Near Oak Woods Cemetery

More of the same kind

Keep exploring