Smokey and Tomi visit the Woodlawn Cemetery

Round Trip: 88 miles

Total Miles Traveled: 341.5 miles

Latitude: 37.726579

Longitude: -89.211093

Smokey and Tomi visited the Woodlawn Cemetery located in Carbondale, Illinois. The Woodlawn Cemetery was designed in 1853 by Daniel Brush, and is known for hosting one of the first Memorial Day celebrations in the nation, and the very first memorial service in Illinois. In 1866, General John A. Logan gave a speech at this cemetery in order to honor the Civil War veterans from Carbondale. The cemetery, which is located on East Main Street, contains over 400 gravesites on approximately 2.5 acres. The last burial at the Woodlawn Cemetery was in 1954. People buried at this cemetery include many Union and Confederate soldiers, as well as townspeeople of the mid-to-late 1800s. The Woodlawn Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1985 and was designated as a Carbondale Historic Landmark on March 8, 1994. In 2001, the city of Carbondale added an interpretive sign and an Illinois State Historical Society marker.

Even though I have lived in Southern Illinois my entire life, I did not realize that the Woodlawn Cemetery, which is located by Wendy's and Popeye's in Carbondale, was a historical landmark.