Forest Lawn Chapel Chat with Dr. Erik Seeman

Join us as we welcome Dr. Erik R. Seeman, UB Distinguished Professor of History at the University at Buffalo, to the Forest Lawn Chapel for the next talk in our new series called Chapel Chats. This initiative will offer a variety of death care awareness programs and resources that promote a healthy attitude about mortality.


Forest Lawn, the Rural Cemetery Movement, and Victorian Death Practices

Ever wonder why Forest Lawn looks the way it does, with its sculpted landscape and meandering paths? That’s because it’s a splendid example of the “rural cemetery movement,” the effort to beautify burial grounds that swept the United States in the 1830s and 1840s. This illustrated talk puts Forest Lawn in the context of the rural cemetery movement and the famously macabre Victorian death practices the movement helped inspire. The session will end with a conversation about the connections between past and present death practices.

Tickets: $15 - Advance registration is required as space is limited.