In her will, Alice Hastings Minot, a famed Broadway actress, asked that she be inurned in a memorial “overlooking an ocean and be so designed that it would add beauty to the world.”

After an extensive West Coast search, the Santa Barbara Cemetery was selected. In 1951, her graceful mausoleum overlooking the Pacific Ocean was built, inspired by an Italian temple to Poseidon. Her husband, Charles Sedgewick Minot, joined her eight years later. They never even lived here.

It’s just one example of the abundant beauty and wealth of history found at the 57-acre burial grounds off Cabrillo Boulevard, across from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge at 901 Channel Drive.

Though it was founded more than 150 years ago and sits on prime real estate, historian David Petry said that many residents who take his cemetery tour have never visited it. 

“Even native Santa Barbarians or from generations of locals admit it is their first visit, or that they didn’t know it was here,” he said. 

To remedy that, Petry will lead two public tours of the cemetery this Saturday and Sunday. Tours run for about three hours, and tickets are $25. Tickets and future tour dates are available at sbcemtours.com. 

Though Halloween is approaching, there’s nothing spooky about this cemetery. Yes, there are untimely deaths, tragic circumstances and sad stories — but no hauntings, according to Petry. 

“Different mediums have come through, but they get the feeling that the residents are happy,” he said. 

That’s reflected in the title of his coffee-table book, “The Best Last Place,” which traces the history of the Santa Barbara Cemetery. Published in 2006, it is available at local bookstores and for a discounted price for tour attendees.

Petry came to Santa Barbara from Redlands to study at UCSB, graduating with degrees in environmental studies and journalism. He worked as a freelance journalist and later in technical writing at tech companies, including QAD.

In 1995, UCSB completed an oral history of William Henry Newell Bryant Jr., the cemetery’s supervisor for nearly 60 years starting in 1935. Then-Superintendent Randy Thwing wanted to publish them, and Petry took up the challenge. (Thwing retired in January after more than 30 years in the job.) 

What started as a 40-page pamphlet turned into a book written after eight years of research, more than 30 interviews and a deep dive into the cemetery’s archives — all while Petry held full-time jobs. 

He knows where the bodies are buried, literally. 

During the tour, he recounts not only who are interred here, but how the cemetery adapted and evolved to fit the public’s needs and societal trends. He notes the individuals such as Bryant, and those before and after his tenure, who ultimately were responsible for creating the resting place. 

Before 1867, while there were cemeteries for Catholics on the Riviera and at the Old Mission, “gringos” were buried in a poorly maintained spot where Montecito Street dead-ended on the Mesa, next to a brick yard. 

After the death of grizzly bear hunter turned mayor Isaac Sparks, the community rallied. With five acres donated by George Nidever, the city cemetery opened one year after Sparks’ death. He was reinterred there nine years later. 

The cemetery expanded piecemeal over the years, with more land from Nidever’s estate, acreage donated by the city and purchases of adjacent properties. 

All of that is in the book, but there’s nothing like a visit to the cemetery to see history come alive (pun intended).

During a recent private tour for Santa Barbara Newcomers, Petry began in the chapel. Designed by celebrated local architects George Washington Smith and Lutah Maria Riggs in the Moorish style, it was not fully realized as they had intended, because of budget cuts, when it opened in 1926. 

In 1934, Smith’s widow and his close friend Henry Eichheim offered to bankroll the final touches, which included tiling the exterior of the dome and commissioning contemporary Mexican artist Alfredo Ramos Martínez to paint murals in the interior.  

Now lauded as a stunning showcase of Mexican modernism, at the time the murals were controversial.

“On Bryant’s first day on the job, he came across Martínez working on the murals,” Petry said. “Bryant absolutely hated them. He thought they were an abomination.” 

A who’s who of the Santa Barbara elite is interred here, including Riggs, Smith, Eichheim, and Superintendent Bryant. A recent addition is modern filmmaker Ivan Reitman (the director of “Ghostbusters”).

The tour also visits large columbaria (for urns) and mausoleums added later, reflecting the popularity of cremation. A noisy crematorium in the chapel’s basement with a “catafalque” elevator to lift up caskets into the apse for viewing was dismantled in 1952. 

The cemetery’s original five acres, visible from the chapel’s front door, is the departure point for the tour of the grounds, which is about one mile of easy walking. As of 2023, more than 43,000 individuals are now interred here. 

As seen today, it is a mix of tombstones with flat grave markers, as influenced by the trend toward memorial “parks,” like Forest Lawn in Los Angeles. Many tombstones toppled over the years were replaced as flat or, to the dismay of the newcomers on the tour, tossed over the cliff onto the beach below.

“How could they do that?” one tour-goer asked. Petry explained that cemeteries of the time were doing self-imposed makeovers to make the grounds more attractive.

The cemetery does indeed feel park-like, with large expanses of lawn broken up by flowers at individual markers, interspersed with a mix of old and new markers, carved gravestones, body-length ledger stones, elaborate and simple monuments, trees and plantings. 

Petry decodes the iconography on the markers and stresses the importance of the Masons, Odd Fellows and other groups that provided burials for their members. Why are some markers in the shapes of trees and logs? What about that pyramid? When did photographs (and QR codes) start to show up on gravestones? Are plots still available? (That answer is “yes.”)

Petry is a knowledgeable and engaging storyteller with an eye for detail. He weaves tales of ultra-rich and local movers and shakers buried on the Sunset section, a Potters Field for the indigent, a section for Chinese workers (remains were later returned to their homeland), the military section on a lovely hillside, of scandals (two involving chauffeurs who ended up in crypts), and of heartbreak and enduring love. 

“This cemetery is a gem, and it doesn’t always receive the same attention as other Santa Barbara landmarks,” Petry said.

Can’t make the tour? It is open daily to visitors with free admission, and is a must-see for anyone with an interest in history or simply a love of beautiful places.