Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Among the more than 30,000 graves in Park Hill Cemetery (parkhillcemetery.org; 2500 Vermilion Rd.; Duluth; 218-724-7149) are multiple monuments. These lie amid rolling hills separate from the busier parts of Duluth, giving opportunity for peaceful reflection. One monument example includes a concrete and marble crypt decorated with an inscription of Jesus Christ and the words, "I am the resurrection and the life." A flower garden bed grows at the monument's base. Monuments such as these sit in the cemetery's center and overlook two ponds. As of 2010, the cemetery houses 192 monumental crypts.
Three graves within Park Hill serve as small monuments leading to a larger one. In June 1920 a white mob lynched and hanged three black men in Duluth as 10,000 spectators watched. These men -- Elmer Jackson, Elias Clayton, and Issac McGhie -- were buried in Park Hill Cemetery in unmarked graves that remained hidden until Oct. 26, 1991 when the graves were located and properly marked. Throughout the 1990s vigils were held at the intersection -- East First Street and North Second Avenue -- where the hangings occurred. These vigils led to a grassroots effort to install a memorial for these men that continues to raise awareness of racial issues.
The O'Hara Peace Bell, located in the Japanese Peace Bell Garden, in Enger Park (near U.S. Highway 51 and Duluth's skyline parkway) stands as a gesture of peace and speaks for lives lost during World War II. This monument particularly the recognizes deaths that occurred in the conflict between the U.S. and Japan.
During the war, the American military stole the Buddhist temple bell from the Japanese. In 1954, the bell was returned to its original location in O'Hara, Japan -- after Duluth mayor George D. Johnson found it in Duluth.
The bell in Duluth is a replica and ties together, at least in a ceremonial way, two countries that once were violently divided.
Famed Minnesotan William Munger rests in Duluth's Oneota Cemetery (second division of section O, lot 68, grave 2). He gained recognition mostly for his environmental causes, including the transformation of abandoned railways into state trails. The William Munger Trail is a 69-mile bicycle trail between Duluth and Hinckley.
Additionally, the Northland Vietnam Veterans Memorial, on Duluth's Lake Walk along Lake Superior, honors veterans from northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. A semicircular monument serves as the memorial centerpiece.