What Lies Beneath Colorado Pioneer Cemeteries and Graveyards

Cemeteries tell stories—and many in what was once the frontier west are crumbling, forgotten, part of ghost towns. Through the skillful storytelling of these authors, these small patches of ground tell a larger story about the history of the West. This book series will feature the stories of pioneer cemeteries in the western states, written by local authors, revealing the tales behind the intriguing, lost, abandoned, forgotten, and earlies pioneer cemeteries. Each book will include photos, essays, and stories of locations and individuals whose deaths and history have been forgotten–or at least, abandoned—and which tell a story about the region in which they lived. Many of these old sites are located on private land or are not maintained by cities, counties, or other agencies. Along with individual family stories and histories of these outlying graveyards, there will be a chapter on headstones, symbols, and burial traditions used by pioneers or early settlers. There will also be a chapter on some of the West’s famous or infamous characters buried in the state’s oldest cemeteries. The book will be illustrated with archival images and modern photos of graveyards.