Entry No. 21 — the Anchorage file — filed under: cemetery

Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery (the unmarked-graves Pioneer Cemetery)

Established in 1915 with the original townsite, this nine-block downtown cemetery holds 15,000-plus graves — about 3,000 of them once unmarked. Historian John Bagoy spent 15 years using a metal detector to find the little buried metal ID tags and put names back to the forgotten dead, from pioneers to Native chiefs.

The move: Enter at the John Bagoy Gate (7th & Cordova) and do a slow self-guided wander reading the weirdest epitaphs — like 'Here Lies Lucky and Always Will Lie' — trading the stories each headstone hides; come back for the summer 'Stories at the Cemetery' costumed tour if your timing lines up.

📍 Before you go The cemetery fills a nine-block grid downtown, bounded roughly by 6th and 9th Avenues and Fairbanks and Cordova Streets, so it's an easy walk from anywhere in the core; the John Bagoy Gate sits on the Cordova Street side. There's no lot, but free on-street parking rings the surrounding blocks. Summer is the window — snow-free paths, long daylight, and the costumed "Stories at the Cemetery" tours. It's an active municipal cemetery, so keep voices low and stay off the plots. Pair it with the downtown core: museums, coffee, and the Ship Creek trail are all minutes away.

• 📍 Downtown Anchorage
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Low-key
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: John Bagoy Gate, 7th Ave & Cordova St, Anchorage, AK (between 6th-9th Aves and Fairbanks-Cordova Sts)

Hours: Cemetery grounds walkable in daytime; 'Stories at the Cemetery' tours run summer (around June 21 and second Sundays of July/August).

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: adn.com · muni.org

last checked: 2026-06-06