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.
- 📍 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 →
Verified 2026-06-06.