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3.9
9 votes

El Campo Santo Cemetery

2410 San Diego Ave, San Diego, California 92110 USA

Open Now
Thu 12a-11:59p
  • Independent
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“Visit the paved graves!”

In Old Town San Diego sits an ominous building that LIFE magazine once declared the "most haunted house in America". It's been the subject of books, movies, and television shows thanks to its assortment of bumps in the night, yet just down the street is a place that ought to have even more ghostly goings-on: a series of graves that the city decided to build a sidewalk over. El Campo Santo (which translates to The Holy Field), an old Catholic cemetery with nearly 500 bodies, shared the same fate that many other city graveyards faced as more and more people flocked to urban centers - it started getting in the way. Unlike other cities, however, San Diego decided to take a different approach than the process of moving the graves to a more suitable location... they just simply paved over them. The cemetery, which was in use from 1849 to 1897, ended up blocking the way of a new street, and even though the graveyard contained the final resting places of numerous local dignitaries, the city decided to go the easy route and just move the headstones. We've all seen this movie, and it didn't end well. Today, while visiting the notoriously haunted Whaley House, a walk to the paved graves of El Campo Santo is a highly recommended add-on to your trip. There old cemetery now has a historical marker, and as you stroll down the sidewalk, watch out for a series of small bronze plaques embedded in the pavement. When you see them, you're literally standing over the poor souls the city deemed worth paving over. 

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Reviewed by
shellyrla

  • 23 Reviews
  • 4 Helpful
September 07, 2017
Rated 4.0

If you happen to be on Old Town and love history it's worth a short walk or a stop on your way in or out of the area. Many graves include a detailed account of the deceased' life.

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El Campo Santo Cemetery

2410 San Diego Ave
San Diego, California
92110 USA
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Hours

Open 24 hours today
  • Sun - Sat: 12:00 am - 11:59 pm

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