Woodlawn Cemetery tours spotlight West Palm Beach history; seasonal reservations required

Volunteer historians and the West Palm Beach Parks Department are offering seasonal storytelling tours of Woodlawn Cemetery that organizers say connect residents and visitors with the city’s 19th- and early-20th-century past.

The tours, led in part by writer and historian Ginger Peterson, are offered October–November and January–April; reservations are opened one month at a time and are free through Eventbrite, Peterson said. “We just do reservations through a system called Eventbrite only because we don't want too many people,” Peterson said, adding that typical group size is 40 to 60 people.

Why it matters: Woodlawn is the city’s public cemetery and contains burials and markers that trace West Palm Beach’s growth from its founding through major events such as the 1928 hurricane, when some victims were interred in a mass grave because of the public‑health emergency that followed. The cemetery is managed as part of the city’s parks operation and is used for the tours and volunteer preservation work.

Peterson, who co‑authored Legendary Locals of West Palm Beach and volunteers with the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, described Woodlawn as a source of civic memory. “The real value of what you provide and the memorial quality of the cemetery is, again, a reminder of the lives that were lived here in West Palm Beach,” she said. She noted the cemetery contains veterans from the Civil War era and people born as early as the 1810s.

The tours emphasize personal stories tied to grave markers rather than ghost lore, Peterson said. “We're not doing a ghost tour. This is a very dignified storytelling tour of the people that are there in Woodlawn,” she said. The program also highlights figures who played roles in the region’s early civic life, including postmasters, newspapermen and early county leaders; Peterson cited Guy Metcalfe as one such notable figure.

Volunteers assist with maintenance events that include gentle headstone cleanings; Peterson said the city supplies cleaning materials and that groups such as Palm Beach Atlantic University and Florida Power & Light employees have participated. She said that in Florida’s climate, headstones can develop mildew and stains and benefit from specialized, gentle cleaning agents.

Practical details discussed on the podcast: tours run seasonally (October–November and January–April), reservations are released monthly, and signups are free and managed through Eventbrite. The host provided the city’s web address for more information (wpb.org) and a city phone number cited on the program: (561) 804-4906. The West Palm Beach Parks Department and a Woodlawn Cemetery Facebook page were listed as places to find schedules and registration links.

Peterson and the host also encouraged donations of photographs and documents to the Historical Society of Palm Beach County to preserve materials that can illuminate the city’s past; she described the society’s archive in the 1916 Courthouse and an off‑site storage facility for larger artifacts.

The program presented the tours as both an educational offering and a volunteer opportunity; Peterson described volunteering as a way to give back to the community and recommended small acts of local service such as working with food banks or historical preservation groups.

The City Center podcast credits the West Palm Beach Department of Communications for the production and reiterated that city programs such as the Woodlawn Cemetery tours depend on volunteers.