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Aspen Cemetery Search LbNA #55516

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Sep 5, 2010
Location:
City:Aspen
County:Pitkin
State:Colorado
Boxes:1
Planted by:L-Bird
Found by: Stray Circus Fish
Last found:Jul 21, 2013
Status:FFF
Last edited:Sep 5, 2010
There are three cemeteries in Aspen; one is well-known and on a major street; one is obscure and some people even born/raised in Aspen don't know it's there. This cemetery is, in my opinion, the "2nd most known" cemetery in Aspen. Ask a local or go to one of three Visitors’ Centers to find out which one it is.

According to the Aspen Historical Society, "the town of Aspen was settled in 1880-1881 by prospectors migrating over the Continental Divide from Leadville in search of mineral riches, particularly silver ore....within one year [of settling the town] 800-1000 residents were in Aspen and more arrived each day. Mines were soon thriving and the valley filled with the sounds of log cabins, wood frame houses and brick commercial buildings under construction along its dirt streets.

Accompanying the miners was the certainty that some would die there..."Colonel" Kirby was the first person buried in a privately owned vacant field southeast of town. Originally known as Evergreen Cemetery, the site's name was eventually changed...

Although it was to have been replaced by two successor cemeteries in Aspen, [this] Cemetery continued to be used by the town's working class and poor. It is estimated that at least 200 graves are located on site, over half of which are unmarked. [There is a section for a Civil War veterans, many of whom died alone and destitute “with no local family to pay for a proper funeral and a carved headstone…”]

By 1935, only 700 people remained in Aspen and the town looked as if it was bound for obscurity. The Depression ended the use of...[the] cemetery and in the decades since 1930, only three burials have taken place there.

Today the cemetery is filled with 78 marked graves and approximately 130 unmarked burials. If you look carefully throughout the site, you will begin to see many cobblestone borders placed in straight lines on the ground, with right angles at the corners of the graves. The larger of these rectangles mark family plots. You might also notice numerous shallow depressions that indicate the presence of single unmarked graves.

In the late 1990s, with historic preservation a high priority in Aspen, local residents began to urge the city to restore the cemetery. This resulted in a two-year restoration process that began with the listing of the site in the National Register of Historic Places. Biographical information was collected about many of the persons buried there and the property was documented in detail.”

* CLUE *
On the southeast side of Aspen, there is a street bearing the same name as this cemetery. Across from a hiking trailhead (1,000 vertical feet in less than 1 mile of hiking) sharing said name, you will find a park next to this awesome cemetery. Park in the small parking lot and enter the park near the sign stating its name. Follow the path past a giant “ant” (on your left). On the path, you will come to a 4-way intersection. Look for the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Climb up and approach it from the other side. (Do not crawl through!) Look on your right hand side, past the trestle for a rotten beam and you’ll find your surprise.

Hand carved stamp – bring own stamp pad & pen. Please be discreet. There is a picnic table perfect for signing the box by the playground just a ways into the park. After signing, make sure to take a stroll through the fascinating cemetery, paying respect to its inhabitants and their history!

The name of this cemetery pays tribute to the Native American tribe that inhabited these lands long before it was "settled" by miners.