Discover Alexandria’s Hidden Past with Gravestone Stories
Explore one of Alexandria’s most remarkable historic landscapes with Gravestone Stories, a historian-led walking tour of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex. This extraordinary 13-cemetery site contains more than 35,000 burials and preserves more than 250 years of American history in a single outdoor setting.
Featured by AARP, Emerging Civil War, The Zebra Press, Alexandria Times, and Visit Alexandria, and cited by the Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Gravestone Stories offers a distinctive way to experience Alexandria beyond the usual historic district tour. The signature Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex Tour is led by David Heiby, who has led tours here since 2012. He is an independent historian, a history columnist for the Alexandria Gazette Packet, an instructor at the Lifetime Learning Institute of Northern Virginia, and superintendent of the Presbyterian Cemetery, one of the complex’s thirteen burial grounds. The tour combines original research, powerful storytelling, and a deep personal connection to the cemetery grounds.
This is not a ghost tour. It is a true-history walking tour where the stories are documented, the people were real, and the connections to American history are often surprising. Guests encounter Revolutionary War patriots, Civil War soldiers and civilians, African American leaders, first responders, founding families, Cold War figures, and ordinary Alexandrians whose lives intersected with major national events.
The Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex Tour lasts approximately 90 minutes and covers about 1 to 1.5 miles on mostly flat terrain. Public tours are offered Thursday through Saturday throughout the season, with start times adjusted for daylight, heat, weather, and site conditions. Advance booking is required through Viator.
Two specialty tours are available for private groups by request. Rebellious Scoundrels: The Patriots of Alexandria’s Old Presbyterian Meeting House explores the 18th-century burial ground that holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution, introducing the patriots, merchants, and founding families of Alexandria’s Revolutionary generation. From Enslavement to Justice tells how African Americans forced change in Alexandria, bringing voices from the city’s historic burial grounds to life in first-person narrative — from a chambermaid who witnessed George Washington’s death to a football captain who inherited a city transformed. It is designed for groups of 21 to 25, with participants reading the voices aloud at the graves.
Gravestone Stories also leads the Lee-Fendall House Cemetery Tour, hosted by the Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden with tickets through the museum, and offers private group cemetery tours by request for conferences, heritage organizations, lineage societies, and school groups.
Tours take place outdoors on historic cemetery grounds, including paved roads, grass, gravel, and uneven surfaces. Please wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather.
Whether you are a history enthusiast, first-time visitor, local resident, or traveler looking for a deeper Alexandria experience, Gravestone Stories offers an unforgettable way to explore the city’s hidden history, one gravestone at a time.
Learn More and Book Your Tour
Learn more:
GravestoneStories.com
Book the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex Tour:
Reserve on Viator
