A fantastic historical site in the heart of kc! Perfect for walks, runs, and just to enjoy the…read morebeautiful days. The headstones are all really old and neat to look at. And the cemetery itself is very well kept, quiet, not a lot of traffic either! It's also free to visit which is another bonus! If you're looking for a unique place to take a walk I highly recommend

I enjoyed the historical, and peaceful feel! It's a quality place to visit, as well as a value to…read moreyour day!

I wanted to update my review after attending the 150th anniversary celebration for Elmwood Cemetery…read moreover the weekend. Their board of directors and volunteers did a fabulous job of bringing the place to life for a few hours on a beautiful autumn day. Multiple food trucks were in attendance and historical Kansas Citians were brought to life with actors telling their life story next to their graves. Most impressive was the re-opening of the recently refurbished Armour Chapel. Built in 1902 to honor her late husband Kirkland Armour (Armour meats / Armour Rd.). Built with stone and timbers, it features angelic gargoyles, hand carved pews and beautiful stained glass. I witnessed Gerald Trimble and Jambaroque in concert - a perfect setting with wonderful acoustics. They are scheduling a concert series for the venue along with rental for weddings and funeral services. One of my favorite places to visit in Kansas City. A bit of history and scenery while enjoying the outdoors for free.

This historic cemetery is run by an ALL VOLUNTEER board of trustees who are very responsive & caringread more

Highland Cemetery is in a fairly hidden location off of Blue Ridge Blvd between the city limits of…read moreKansas City and Independence. Highland was one of KC's first black owned burial grounds founded in 1909. It is a fairly large cemetery that no longer accepts new burials and is ran by the land trust of Jackson County that oversees abandoned properties. The upkeep looked decent for being overseen by an agency that does not specialize in cemetery care. Be careful driving through, my gravel path, turned to a rutted grass path and then just disappeared leaving me to try and turn around in an area that was unsettling to navigate - was I driving on graves? I hope not! Be careful. As a local history buff and a lover of music; my focus was finding the grave of jazz legend and Kansas City native Bennie Moten. It is fairly easy to find due to the shape of the upright stone. The cemetery is just a mile north of the Lincoln Cemetery where Charlie Parker rests eternal, so stop in a pay your respect to both of these legends.

Mt. Washington cemetery is a spectacular place to visit if graveyards are your type of thing. The…read moreplace is Huge! It has more acreage and roads than many small towns. It is bordered between Truman Rd, Blue Ridge, Brookside and 24 Hiway, and has hills, lakes, sculptures and tons of trees. The grave of pioneer Jim Bridger is here as is William Rockhill Nelson. The large Nelson chapel and mausoleum is spectacular and designed by architect Jarvis Hunt, the same man that gave us Kansas City Union Station. This structure in itself is worth a drive here to see. I spent a hour plus and still did not see all of the grounds. My favorite cemetery in the Kansas City area.

Mt. Washington is the final resting place for generations of my family. The site is beautiful. It…read moreis well maintained and the staff is awesome to work with. They are very friendly and helpful. Because most of my family is closer to the Truman Road side of the cemetery, they opened that gate just for us when we laid my mother to rest there just over a month ago.

Our family has used Hidden Valley funeral home when my dad passed several years ago and this past…read moreMarch when my husband passed. Both times were exceptional. John and his staff treated us with compassion and kindness from moment one. Respect and empathy were immeasurable and every detail was fulfilled to our exact wishes. Every step was addressed, every question was answered, every piece of paperwork was completed and every hug was genuine. We cannot express our heartfelt gratitude to John and his staff. Highly, Highly Recommended!!

On June 28th 2015, the unimaginable happened. My beloved 22 year old daughter passed away from a…read morePulmonary Embolism while visiting family in Kansas City. I was not prepared and was in a complete state of shock. The grief overwhelmed me to the point that I was barely functioning. This funeral home was a blessing. The funeral director, Curtis, was so compassionate and guided my family through the funeral planning process with grace and tenderness. He went above and beyond in EVERY way. It brought me a measure of comfort knowing that my daughter was in their care and she was being treated with dignity and gentleness. He allowed us to participate in as much or as little as we wanted in the preparations. Their services were very reasonably priced and their professionalism is priceless. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to this funeral home and their staff.

We schedule our meeting with Dawn to meet with the Director/Owner, Mr. DiMond. Upon our meeting he…read morewas very clear in the pre-need services we were looking for. I can say that here that meets their mission. He provided a breakdown of the cost of direct cremation, which by far is the most economical (affordable) cost in the entire metro. Their services are the same as others, simply meeting the needs of the community of which the business resides. Upon my research of other funeral and cremation businesses, where the line items are the same, it's just location and not necessarily the quality. Just my opinion.

What a wonderful memorial! Golden Gate did a PHENOMENAL job honoring my brother with the most…read morepeaceful and respectful home going service. You would've thought they knew him personally due to the care and attention that was given to his family. They were so flexible and affordable. We highly recommend their service.

If you have been unfortunate enough to have to make funeral arrangements you have probably had the…read moredispleasure of coming face to face with some to the sleaziest and shameless individuals you might ever meet. Most have no qualms about playing on your grief and weakened state to hit you with markups and up charges. If you are in a place where you can pay attention to details you quickly learn that you should never order anything (flowers, catering, car service, etc) from the funeral home. They tend to average 200% - 800% markups. This is especially true where the casket is concerned. Luckily for me a friend had been though this and pointed me to this business. Direct Casket Outlet despite the sound of its name is a small locally owned business. It is a bit out of the way to find, but worth the trip. The husband and wife that own it handle pretty much everything them selfs so there is little risk of anything falling though the cracks. They were patient and understanding. It was very clear that their only focus was on what we needed and what they could do to help us. Not only did they NEVER push us to spend more they actually talked us into spending $1000 less! Let me repeat that. They knowingly gave up an additional $1000 just because they did not believe it was in our interest to spend it! That is a VERY rare thing to find any more. This is not anything I look forward to going though again, but when it does happen this where I will be going. Not just for the casket, but for recommendations for funeral homes and anything else we might need. I was that impressed and trust them that much!

Recently I suddenly lost my younger brother who is a single father of three children ages 18, 14,…read moreand 12. After learning the devastating news my mother and I began the horrible task of funeral planning. At the time we were deciding between a casket or a cremation. His oldest son accompanied us to the casket store but we told him to wait outside in the car.. As my mother and I sat down at the table with one of the owners (the older one) he was very abrupt in speech and did not seem at all sympathetic to our situation. For him it was business as usual I suppose. When we told him we may need a specialized casket b/c my brother happened to be obese, the older owner said, "Oh yeah, I heard we had a big boy in. How much did he weigh? Whew!!!" "That's a big dude!" My mother and I gasp at his boldness. By that time my nephew had walked in to ask a question and heard what the owner said. My nephew said, "How rude!" and walked back out. A phone call was made to the funeral home that held my brother to find out what size casket would be needed to accommodate the bigger size. Again this owner was very uncaring in his demeanor and non nonchalant as to whether he would be able to help or not. About that time some more customers came in and he turned his attention away from us and went to go help the incoming customers. The younger co-owner took over from there. I voiced my concerns about the behavior of the older owner. There were apologies on his behalf, however we did not feel the need to purchase any items from the casket store. We left the store feeling bruised and insulted. I don't plan to step foot in store again.

What a beautiful old cemetery in a primarily industrial location. It has well tended grounds and…read moregravestones dating from the 19 th century to present. I was there for a service for a friend; but plan to return at a less sad time just to walk the grounds.

I have attempted to visit Sheffield Cemetery on several occasions when in the neighborhood; which…read moreis usually on a Saturday while on a taco run. The gates have always been locked, I assume because of the Jewish Sabbath. My visit yesterday on Memorial Day was successful for entering but slightly unusual. Most cemeteries on Memorial Day are filled with families visiting graves and decorating the tombstones and lawn with flowers and ornaments - not here. I was the only soul on site for the 40+ minutes I wandered amongst the 5500 graves. Even more puzzling; was besides the small American flags at the graves of veterans, there was ZERO decorations in the entire Cemetery. No people, and no tacky plastic flowers or broken wind chimes; just a well manicured lawn with tightly packed tombstones in perfect rows for my isolated inspection. The oldest graves are early 20th century, so nothing too ancient and no one of historical relevance that I could detect in an on-line search. I wandered the lonesome resting grounds alone under a gray overcast sky with low dark clouds while multiple freight trains rumbled along the viaduct just south of the perimeter fence. The Hebrew writing, the stars of David ever present and the line of WWII casualty / veteran graves in the back west corner all triggered emotions of sorrow that I have not felt at other final resting grounds, even though I didn't have any personal connection to anyone buried there. Having just bought tickets for the upcoming Auschwitz exhibit coming to town, I was certainly attuned to the somber reminder of what many of these people beneath my feet had fled from or watched with horror from personal connections. A moment in time that I'll always remember and could never duplicate.