10 Best: Grave sites of illustrious Americans

While graveyards may give Halloween celebrants the chills, Tod Benoit finds them inspiring. The author of Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? (Black Dog & Leventhal, $14.95) has visited the final resting place of more than 500 celebrities and historic figures across the nation. "It's kind of cool when you're standing there, and you're six feet away from this person, and you think 'I wish you could stand up and I could talk up to you'," he says. The writer shares some of his favorite graves with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY.

General George Custer
West Point, N.Y.
Custer may have made his last stand at Little Bighorn, but he's spending eternity nearly 2,000 miles away at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "It took months for them to get the body back to New York," Benoit says. Although the general graduated last in his class, his grave is quite impressive. "It has big buffalo heads on it—a huge monument." 845-446-4724; usma.edu/visiting

Charles Schulz
Sebastopol, Calif.
Benoit is particularly impressed by the grave marker for Peanuts creator Schulz. "He was the most successful cartoonist of all time, but it's just a flat stone with his name and it says Sgt. US Army World War II. It's humble and kind of touching." However, some fans have been known to leave plastic Snoopy toys or other memorabilia at the Sonoma County site. 800-404-7673; visitsantarosa.com

June Carter and Johnny Cash
Hendersonville, Tenn.
This famed musical couple remains together forever beneath matching gravestones at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens. "They are really nice graves, big side by side tablets, and they each chose a passage from the Bible," Benoit says. Johnny, he notes, was devoted to June and died just a few months after her in 2003. 615-230-8474; visitsumnertn.com

Ernest Hemingway
Ketchum, Idaho
The Nobel Prize-winning novelist loved the West, and is buried in a beautiful spot in Idaho's Rocky Mountain region. He lies in Ketchum Cemetery, near his wife, son and granddaughter "There's a bit of path beaten to his grave. It's just a flat stone in a small cemetery, but the setting appeals to me," Benoit says. 866-265-4197; visitsunvalley.com

Gilda Radner
Stamford, Conn.
Although it's hard to find the grave of this Saturday Night Live star, who died in 1989 from ovarian cancer, Benoit says it's worth the effort. "It's a pretty little place, a nice quiet little cemetery." He says the marker conveys Radner's innocence and grace. The stone at Long Ridge Cemetery reads "Comedienne – Ballerina." 860-567-4506; visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Bill "Bill W" Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder
East Dorset, Vt.
Millions have been inspired by the life of a man best known as Bill W, and the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program he helped create with Dr. Bob Smith. Indeed, Bill Wilson's grave at South Village Cemetery has become a pilgrimage site. "It's hallowed ground for some people," Benoit says. "I think about how many thousands of people have come to this grave and paid respect." Smith's grave in Mount Peace Cemetery in Akron, Ohio, also gets many visitors. 802-362-5524; wilsonhouse.org

John Wilkes Booth
Baltimore
Lincoln's assassin lies in a family plot in a large, peaceful cemetery. "A loser, nonetheless he did something that changed history. When you're in fourth grade you learn about him," Benoit says. His small gravestone at Greenmount Cemetery is often topped with Lincoln pennies in homage to the slain President and as a slap at Booth. 410-659-7300; baltimore.org

Clyde Barrow
Dallas
Perhaps it's fitting that the notorious bank robber's grave in Western Heights Cemetery is hard to find. "It's up on a knoll. It's hidden in plain sight. I drove by the thing four times," Benoit says. Although the romanticized robber is forever linked with his partner in love and crime, Bonnie Parker, they are separated in death. She's buried across town in Dallas' Crown Hill Memorial Park. 214-571-1000, visitdallas.com

Bo Diddley
Bronson, Fla.
The music pioneer lived a hard life, but his gravestone at Rosemary Hill Cemetery in a tiny north Florida town celebrates his legacy with a near-full-size replica of his guitar, colored red. "You don't even have to pull into the cemetery. You drive down the road, you look over and it's very clear, right under a tree with Spanish moss," Benoit says. visitnaturecoast.com

Charles Lindbergh
Hana, Hawaii
Perhaps it's no surprise that a high-flier like Lindbergh would be buried in such a spectacular setting. To reach the final resting place of the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, visitors must drive the famed Road to Hana from Maui. His grave sits behind the Palapala Ho'omau Church on a bluff overlooking the ocean, Benoit says. "That's a really stunning place to spend eternity." 800-464-2924, gohawaii.com