Park Street Cemetery

Address: 52 Park Street
Timing: daily 8am-5pm 
Entry: Free
Opened 1767, among the oldest cemeteries in Asia. Tropical trees shade a maze of obelisks, pyramids and urn-topped pillars, testament to a brutal demographic reality: a young Englishman arriving in the 1780s had less than an even chance of surviving his first decade. Cholera, malaria and childbirth did most of the damage, and inscriptions record it with occasional dark comedy: melancholia, “excess of alcohol,” or “an inordinate use of the hookah” listed as causes of death. Notable graves include Sir William Jones (modestly marked, given his stature), Rose Aylmer, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, and the sons of Charles Dickens. A full hour is worth setting aside.