Oakland is a cemetery, and so much more. With the opening of our Visitor Center and launch of our refreshed brand, we invite you to experience Oakland as a place for both remembrance and discovery.

Opening weekend of illumine 2025, presented in partnership with Cat Eye Creative, drew thousands of visitors to historic Oakland Cemetery—and it’s been lighting up the press ever since!

Historic Oakland Foundation’s Director of Adult Programs Sandy White and Cat Eye Creative Founder Adam Crawford recently joined Summer Evans on WABE’s City Lights to share the vision behind this year’s event and offer a glimpse into what attendees can expect.

illumine is almost here! Get in the spirit with the official illumine 2025 playlist inspied by this year’s theme: what remains.

On April 3, 2025, Historic Oakland Foundation officially opened the new Visitor Center, located at 374 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr SE.

Oakland Cemetery is more than just a historic site—it’s also an outdoor classroom and learning lab filled with stories, nature, and opportunities for discovery. Learn more about educational programs available at this unique historic green space.

Learn more about the Spring Plant Sale from Oakland’s Gardens Team!

Oakland’s 2024 Preservation Intern Bethany Girard shares her thoughts on her time interning for Oakland’s Preservation team and what she learned doing hands-on restoration work.

Burial grounds have long served as cultural and artistic gathering spaces. Oakland’s upcoming event illumine will modernize this tradition by illuminating the cemetery with art installations.

Announcing the artists of illumine 2025, in partnership with Cat Eye Creative: Vanna Black, Kevin Chambers, FRKO, Bojana Ginn, Angie Jerez, Navin June Norling, and VAYNE.

Historic Oakland Foundation is thrilled to share that the new Visitor Center across from the cemetery’s western gate is near completion and has “soft opened” to the public.