GO TO THE MOST beautiful cemetery in your closest city — the one with rolling hills and winding pathways, the one that local birders rave about. If your mind conjures images of death or Halloween, acknowledge those thoughts, and then move on. Bring walking shoes and maybe a water bottle. Don’t download the map; just show up at the front gate. Walk in. Get lost. You’ll immediately be immersed in both nature and history.
If you’re east of the Rockies, then your cemetery was almost certainly established between 1830 and 1860, and it served as your city’s first real park. The labyrinthine blueprint was applied again and again, in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Rochester, Albany, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Providence, Louisville, Savannah, Charleston, Richmond, Buffalo, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Atlanta, New Orleans,…