Beer Barons and Old Oaks: Forest Home Cemetery Brewing History Tour

Forest Home Cemetery sits on nearly 200 acres in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Beer Barons Tour at Forest Home Cemetery Presented by Historic Milwaukee, Inc. draws a small group into the city’s industrial past. Meeting at Plankinton Arcade 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 1.5-hour walking tour threads through winding lanes and over uneven ground to visit the burial plots of beer pioneers—Joseph Schlitz, Captain Frederick Pabst and Valentin Blatz—and the craftsmen and suppliers who kept breweries running. The experience is part history lesson, part arboretum walk: Forest Home was established in 1850, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and became Milwaukee’s first accredited arboretum in 2021, with more than 2,600 trees across the site. Docents from Historic Milwaukee, Inc., founded in 1974 to promote the city’s architecture and built environment, narrate how Milwaukee’s location, immigrant workforce and river access made it an ideal brewing center. You’ll learn about the four major breweries—Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz and others—along with related trades: barrel making, wagon building and bottling innovations. The cemetery itself is a rare surviving example of a Victorian-era rural garden cemetery in the Upper Midwest; monuments, sculpted stonework and Victorian-era landscaping give the tour texture and sightlines that feel more like a living museum than a park. Practical visitors’ details are woven into the story. The walk covers uneven terrain and is not accessible; there are no guaranteed seats along the route, so comfortable, sturdy footwear and a steady pace help you enjoy the 1.5-hour itinerary. Parking is free throughout the cemetery—guests are asked to avoid spaces in front of the office reserved for funerals—and the tour supports preservation: proceeds benefit Historic Milwaukee, Inc. and Forest Home Cemetery & Arboretum. What sets this trip apart is the collision of industrial biography and quiet green space. You stand beside gravestones that name company founders and then look up into an arboretum canopy whose specimen trees have shaded Milwaukee for generations. For history buffs, beer lovers and anyone curious about how a city’s industries shape its landscape, the Beer Barons Tour offers a compact, revealing walk that connects architecture, commerce and everyday labor in a way few museum galleries can match. Plan to arrive 10–15 minutes early and bring a camera; the statuary, mature trees and storytelling make for memorable photos and sharper understanding of why beer made Milwaukee famous. Groups are intentionally small—20 People maximum—which keeps conversations intimate and allows time to linger at individual monuments without feeling rushed. Tours run with English-speaking docents; the route is unsuitable for strollers but fits steady walkers. Your ticket supports free public programs like Doors Open Milwaukee and ongoing preservation of this historic garden cemetery and arboretum and community education efforts.