Glenwood Cemetery: Houston's Hilltop of Memory

On a rolling bluff above Buffalo Bayou, just west of downtown, lies the oldest garden cemetery in Houston. Glenwood was laid out in 1871 as a rural, landscaped burial ground in the Victorian fashion, its curving lanes and terraced hills a deliberate contrast to the flat, grid-bound city below. For a century and a half it has been the resting place of the people who built Houston and Texas — statesmen, governors, merchants, and, most famously, the aviator and oilman Howard Hughes. This driving-and-walking tour winds through the cemetery's terraces to visit some of its most storied graves: the last president of the Republic of Texas, two Texas governors, a Hollywood star born on the island of Manhattan, and the Hughes family plot on the highest ground. Glenwood is a working cemetery and a place of quiet beauty; please drive slowly, stay on the lanes, and treat every grave with respect. Bring comfortable shoes — the best views, and the best stones, are up the hill.