For people who are interested in the historical and botanical aspects of Beechwood, we offer both self-guided and guided group tours given by our trained volunteers. Tours are one of the many community programs that are offered through The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation.
Before visiting Beechwood, please review our Visitor Code of Conduct.
Self-Guided Tours
For the past several years, Beechwood has been installing Great Canadian Profile plaques within the Cemetery. These bright green plaques bear a brief bilingual biography on a person of historical interest who is buried nearby. There are now over 50 of these plaques.
As part of the Foundation’s mandate to provide educational and historical programming, we have created self-guided tours, showing the locations of all the plaques and a legend identifying the person that each plaque profiles as well as on ongoing series of themed tours.
- The Great Canadian Profiles Plaque Tour
- Reconciling History Tour
- Streets of Ottawa Tour
- The Scots of Beechwood Tour
- Explorers of Time, Space and Innovation Tour
Horticulture Tour
Guided Tours
The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation offers free guided tours for groups interested in learning more about Beechwood, the National Cemetery of Canada. In addition, the Foundation sponsors an Annual Historical Walking Tour.
The tour takes about two hours and involves walking around a good part of Beechwood’s 160 acres. Tours are given from early March until early November, weather permitting. All visitors are encouraged to wear appropriate clothing and footwear, particularly if the weather is likely to be inclement. A shorter tour is available upon request, and we are also able to accommodate small buses.
Private tours are offered to groups of 4 or more, and a monthly tour to any and all visitors is offered on the last Sunday of the summer months. See our calendar for the next Beechwood Tour.
To book a private tour: Email foundation@beechwoodottawa.ca with your preferred time and date. Please contact us at least a month before you’d like to have your tour; providing more than one suggested time or date will be helpful for scheduling purposes.
How to Become a Volunteer Tour Guide: If you are interested in volunteering as a tour guide, please contact us at foundation@beechwoodottawa.ca or by phone at 613-741-9530.
Guided Annual Historical Walking Tour
This is a themed tour with the theme changing each year. Costumed actors perform vignettes about some of the individuals featured on the tour.