Acacia Park Cemetery

01 / The story of this place

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Acacia Park Cemetery opened in Beverly Hills, just north of Detroit's Eight Mile Road boundary, in 1924, founded as a Masonic burial ground for Detroit-area Freemasons and their families. Over the following decades it grew into one of Oakland County's major cemeteries, with a mausoleum and gardens alongside traditional burial grounds. Two men who helped build and run Detroit's auto industry rest here: William S. Knudsen, the Danish-born production expert who led Chevrolet and then General Motors before running American war production in World War Two, was buried here in 1948. Charles Erwin Wilson, who rose from GM engineer to company president and later served as U.S. Secretary of Defense, followed him in 1961. The cemetery remains active today, still run by its Masonic board and open for burials, tours and visits.

1. Masonic cemetery in Beverly Hills, open since 1924
2. Burial place of GM president William S. Knudsen (1948)
3. Burial place of GM president and Defense Secretary Charles Erwin Wilson (1961)
4. Still an active cemetery today, with a mausoleum and gardens