Visiting Mount Hope
Mount Hope is more than a cemetery. It's a peaceful park, a wildlife sanctuary, and an outdoor museum.
Many visitors visit Mount Hope each year to visit the graves of notable individuals interred here, attend events, participate in guided tours conducted by the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, take photographs of the grounds, bird watch, or simply stroll through the natural landscape and relax. The cemetery is an active burial place and continues to perform burials almost daily. Visitors are asked to follow these guidelines when visiting Mount Hope.
*Please note that Mount Hope Cemetery is a natural terrain. Paths are often unpaved and not always handicap accessible.
Finding Your Way Around
Map and legend of the grounds of Mount Hope Cemetery
Planting and Decoration Policy for Mount Hope Cemetery
General Information
Mount Hope Cemetery
1133 Mt. Hope Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
Phone: 585-428-7999
Fax: 585-473-9713
You can also contact us. Please feel free to share your comments and feedback here.
Office Hours
Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (except federal holidays)
Cemetery Gates Open (daily)
| April 1st - October 14th | 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| October 15th - March 31st | 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
Commercial Photography or Filmmaking
Feel free to photograph our landscape, plants and wildlife for your own personal enjoyment. Photographing funeral ceremonies or processions, persons visiting grave sites, names or inscriptions on monuments, markers or mausoleums, stained-glass windows, interiors of private family mausoleums or copyrighted commissioned art work, is not permitted. A special permit must be obtained in advance for all filmmaking, commercial photography and /or photography with special equipment or posed subjects. A permit application with $15 fee payment must be submitted at least 30 days in advance.
School Groups (K-12)
Students of all grade levels are welcomed for school visits when accompanied by an adult educator. The Friends of Mount Hope have developed guidelines for student and youth groups to ensure an engaging and enjoyable tour, as well as suggested curriculum. All school groups must register online. Self-guided groups must register at least five days in advance. Groups requesting a guided tour by the Friends of Mount Hope must register three weeks in advance.
University and College Educators
University or college educators are welcomed to visit the cemetery with their students or to use the cemetery as part of educational conferences or seminars. Educators must submit a permit application at least two weeks in advance to register your class with the cemetery, or six weeks in advance for use of the cemetery for educational conferences or seminars. Photography instructors looking to bring students to the cemetery are also required to submit a permit application.
Guided Tours
The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery offers guided walking tours of the cemetery. Private guided walking tours are also available from the Friends with advance reservation and may be designed for a variety of interests (garden clubs, historical societies and social groups). No other group or individual may conduct a public tour in the cemetery without first obtaining permission from Mount Hope.
Self-guided Tours
Our gates are open to the public every day of the year, although hours of operation vary with the seasons. Mount Hope requests that all groups in excess of 10 people register with the cemetery office in advance of their visit. Any group in excess of 25 individuals wishing to visit the cemetery for non-interment related reasons must obtain a permit. A permit application must be submitted at least two weeks in advance.
Special Use of the Mount Hope Cemetery
Individuals or groups wishing to use the cemetery for special functions such as religious services, organized activities (e.g., races, walks, etc.), public tours, speeches, marches or parades or for any other non-interment use must obtain a permit in advance from Mount Hope. A permit application must be submitted at least three weeks in advance.
