This is a working cemetery, not a museum. Burials happen here regularly, and grieving families are often visiting graves of people they've recently lost — please be mindful of both the graves and your fellow visitors.
Built on Belief Atlas OWC Always On View — Trails, Stamps and Interactive Quiz

Oak Woods, 1812–2026

Browse both trails freely right here, by timeline or by person — bring this page along as your companion while you walk the grounds. Scroll the timeline below, tap a card to read more, tap again (or ✕) to close.

Special thanks to the Hyde Park Historical Society — this website would not have been possible without their invaluable work compiling the Interactive Map of Notable Residents and its biographies. If you're interested in the history of the Hyde Park community, whether browsing casually or digging into specific research, please visit their site at hydeparkhistory.org to support their work.
Collect digital stamps

Complete the interactive quiz during your visit to collect digital stamps. Some questions can only be answered by exploring the grounds on site.

Go to Quiz →
Plan Your Visit

Interactive Map of Notable Residents

See where every person and monument on these trails actually sits on the ground, courtesy of the Hyde Park Historical Society's Oak Woods Cemetery Project.

Open Interactive Map ↗ Download Map Key (PDF)
Uses real coordinates from the map above. Keep this tab open and your phone unlocked — it can't run in the background.

Coordinates may not be exact, and alerts are triggered when you are within about 35 meters of a landmark's coordinates. Please still explore the space with your own eyes first.

Hidden Trail Unlocked

The Trail of Oak Woods Cemetery

Hidden Oak Woods stamp

Psst… you’ve found a hidden trail! Tucked behind the oak tree icons is the Trail of Oak Woods Cemetery: the people and landmarks with a direct connection to this cemetery’s own story. Your reward for sharp eyes is a hidden stamp. Go on, take it.

Download hidden stamp ↓
About Oak Woods Cemetery

Background history (not specific to Oak Woods)
Buried at Oak Woods
Key on-site landmark

Want to prove you actually walked these stations? The interactive quiz can only be solved with clues found on site.

Go to Quiz →

Already been through the tour? A one-minute survey helps the organizing team plan what's next, and earns you a separate stamp.

Give Feedback →
Bibliography — numbered citations ([1], [2], …) appear at the end of each entry above, linking to the matching source below. Numbered map pins (#) follow the numbering on the HPHS Interactive Map of Notable Residents; the older PDF map key may not be up to date and can number some graves differently.

    Developed by Zhang Yixing, special thanks to UChicago Oak Woods Cemetery Project and BigHouse Cemetery for review and advice. The jigsaw-piece illustrations flanking the title above are original artwork by Zhang Yixing. Eddie Harris photo: Atlantic Records, 1972, public domain (Wikimedia Commons). Dorothy Hansine Andersen photo: National Library of Medicine / Columbia University Health Sciences Division Archives, public domain (Wikimedia Commons). William Hale Thompson photo: Harris & Ewing, between 1911 and 1917, Library of Congress, public domain (Wikimedia Commons). Oak tree icon: Image by magnific.