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mistressofmuses) wrote2024-06-26 09:17 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2024-06-26 09:17 pm
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June 11: Riverside Cemetery (Part 1)
On Monday the 10th, when we were at Hudson Gardens, Alex expressed interest in maybe trying to find a small, historic cemetery to visit. It's been a while since we did visit any (and the last time we did go to one of the ones in Denver, Fairmount, Alex was chased away by gnats.)
It's surprisingly hard to find any real small ones here, compared to what he's used to from Maryland, where little family plots were shockingly easy to trip over. (He's even found a few out there that weren't on the county maps of known sites.)
Here we've seen a few—little cemeteries out on the plains that aren't tied to any existing towns, or some of the small ones in the mountains that were tied to mining communities— but a lot of the small ones here have either been entirely lost, or were moved to larger town/city sites.
We did find a couple that sounded maybe interesting, but by the time we did so, it was getting into the afternoon, and we didn't want to spend too long driving somewhere that we might have to hunt around to find the right access to, and such. So we just settled on going back to Riverside, which we hadn't visited in a few years.
Riverside Cemetery is Denver's oldest operational cemetery. It was established in 1876 (the same year Colorado became a state!). It's 77 acres, and has 67000+ burials, though many of those are unmarked. For a long while, it was the choice for the well-to-do of Denver and surrounding areas to bury their loved ones, and there are a ton of prominent local historical figures there. Most of the "notable" burials are politicians, businessmen, socialites, etc.
While we didn't find his grave this time, the most interesting figure to me, personally, is Silas Soule. He was an abolitionist who participated in the Underground Railroad and joined the Union army. He and the men under his command refused to participate in the Sand Creek Massacre, and he later testified at the hearing about the massacre. He was murdered shortly after, in suspected retaliation for his testimony.
The upkeep of the cemetery is a bit... hit or miss. It's certainly not abandoned, and there IS upkeep, but there are also a lot of damaged or fallen stones, and they no longer do any landscaping or much maintenance of the site.
The location is a bit odd now, because it's in a very industrial part of town, with big factory buildings, railyards, and warehouses to most sides. (Though there's also like, a relatively nice administrative building right across from one section.)
A wider shot of a section of the cemetery. It feels a bit weird to me to see the industrial buildings in the background, with the smokestacks and all.
As is often the case with older cemeteries, there are an awful lot of children's graves. This one is pretty elaborate, even if the cherub is damaged. It does give it a bit of an eerie look.
I liked seeing a headstone that actually says "R.I.P." on it.
I really like the different ways that certain stones have been weathered. There's so much sandstone around here, it's not surprising that it was a commonly used material... just as it's not surprising that it has weathered quite significantly.
Sorry about the bird poop. But I found the backwards 4s interesting, as well as the fact it appears they ran out of room for the last digit, maybe.
Another one that weathered interestingly.
There are a lot of fallen headstones. This one has been partially devoured by this anthill.
Another child's grave marker.
Some more that are interestingly worn and partially repaired.
I wonder how this woodman marker was burned.
Though it actually makes it easier to read.
They're fairly uncommon, but I like the ones that have portraits.
The portraits feel like a bit more of a connection, in a way.
Though it's sad to see ones where the portrait was either damaged and lost or stolen.
A bit difficult to see all the details, partially backlit, but the carving on this one is extremely elaborate.
Interestingly, it's also "signed."
Looking up the intersection, that's about a block away from where Tracks is now, our big warehouse gay club. (Which used to be in the warehouse, kinda sketch area of town, which was a mix of old brick buildings that had been converted into industrial space and weird little rented art studios and microbreweries before they were even a tenth of the trend they are now. Now it's basically all expensive condos.)
A marker for one of the famous non-politician burials here.
Second half of the pictures to come!
It's surprisingly hard to find any real small ones here, compared to what he's used to from Maryland, where little family plots were shockingly easy to trip over. (He's even found a few out there that weren't on the county maps of known sites.)
Here we've seen a few—little cemeteries out on the plains that aren't tied to any existing towns, or some of the small ones in the mountains that were tied to mining communities— but a lot of the small ones here have either been entirely lost, or were moved to larger town/city sites.
We did find a couple that sounded maybe interesting, but by the time we did so, it was getting into the afternoon, and we didn't want to spend too long driving somewhere that we might have to hunt around to find the right access to, and such. So we just settled on going back to Riverside, which we hadn't visited in a few years.
Riverside Cemetery is Denver's oldest operational cemetery. It was established in 1876 (the same year Colorado became a state!). It's 77 acres, and has 67000+ burials, though many of those are unmarked. For a long while, it was the choice for the well-to-do of Denver and surrounding areas to bury their loved ones, and there are a ton of prominent local historical figures there. Most of the "notable" burials are politicians, businessmen, socialites, etc.
While we didn't find his grave this time, the most interesting figure to me, personally, is Silas Soule. He was an abolitionist who participated in the Underground Railroad and joined the Union army. He and the men under his command refused to participate in the Sand Creek Massacre, and he later testified at the hearing about the massacre. He was murdered shortly after, in suspected retaliation for his testimony.
The upkeep of the cemetery is a bit... hit or miss. It's certainly not abandoned, and there IS upkeep, but there are also a lot of damaged or fallen stones, and they no longer do any landscaping or much maintenance of the site.
The location is a bit odd now, because it's in a very industrial part of town, with big factory buildings, railyards, and warehouses to most sides. (Though there's also like, a relatively nice administrative building right across from one section.)
A wider shot of a section of the cemetery. It feels a bit weird to me to see the industrial buildings in the background, with the smokestacks and all.
As is often the case with older cemeteries, there are an awful lot of children's graves. This one is pretty elaborate, even if the cherub is damaged. It does give it a bit of an eerie look.
I liked seeing a headstone that actually says "R.I.P." on it.
I really like the different ways that certain stones have been weathered. There's so much sandstone around here, it's not surprising that it was a commonly used material... just as it's not surprising that it has weathered quite significantly.
Sorry about the bird poop. But I found the backwards 4s interesting, as well as the fact it appears they ran out of room for the last digit, maybe.
Another one that weathered interestingly.
There are a lot of fallen headstones. This one has been partially devoured by this anthill.
Another child's grave marker.
Some more that are interestingly worn and partially repaired.
I wonder how this woodman marker was burned.
Though it actually makes it easier to read.
They're fairly uncommon, but I like the ones that have portraits.
The portraits feel like a bit more of a connection, in a way.
Though it's sad to see ones where the portrait was either damaged and lost or stolen.
A bit difficult to see all the details, partially backlit, but the carving on this one is extremely elaborate.
Interestingly, it's also "signed."
Looking up the intersection, that's about a block away from where Tracks is now, our big warehouse gay club. (Which used to be in the warehouse, kinda sketch area of town, which was a mix of old brick buildings that had been converted into industrial space and weird little rented art studios and microbreweries before they were even a tenth of the trend they are now. Now it's basically all expensive condos.)
A marker for one of the famous non-politician burials here.
Second half of the pictures to come!