Great Lakes National Cemetery

01 / The story of this place

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This national cemetery sits on land that was once the private retreat of inventor Bryson Dexter Horton, who made his fortune with the safety-focused Square D electrical switch and built a house on the property in 1927, entertaining guests like Henry and Edsel Ford for hunting and fishing trips. The federal government acquired the land in 2002, and Great Lakes National Cemetery opened in 2005 as only the second national cemetery in Michigan, with its first burial that October. Spread across 544 acres of what used to be farmland about fifty miles northwest of Detroit, it has grown to hold more than fifty-five thousand graves. Among the veterans buried here are jazz and funk saxophonist Allan Barnes, a Vietnam veteran who later played with War, and Mack Rice, the Detroit songwriter behind "Mustang Sally" and "Respect Yourself," both laid to rest in 2016.

1. Opened in 2005, Michigan's second national cemetery
2. Built on former farmland once visited by Henry and Edsel Ford
3. Covers 544 acres with more than 55,000 graves
4. Burial place of saxophonist Allan Barnes and songwriter Mack Rice