Pioneer Cemetery Has Roots Buried In Arvada Community
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4)- An early pioneer cemetery in Arvada blends in with its surroundings in a neighborhood where the living seem to have forgotten the dead.
"Each time I come out here, something new arises, something new comes down, unfortunately," said 16-year-old Matt Prythero. "I've been coming out here for 2 and a half years."
Ralston Cemetery is an early pioneer cemetery in what's now the town of Arvada. It was known as Ralston Crossing, a burgeoning pioneer town spurred on by the discovery of gold. The cemetary is listed on this year's Most Endangered Places List.
"We've traced the history back to 1847," said Prythero.
"It was a very prosperous area in the 1849s and 1850s. There was a school and stagecoach stop, post office and a number of things going on in the area," said Arvada City Planner Kim Grant.
The cemetery reveals more than just who is buried there.
"The cemetery tells us a lot about the history of the area and the settlers and descendants," said Grant.
One grave marks the resting place where the children of the cemetery's original property owners are buried. The Osborne triplets all died within a few weeks of their birth.
"The Osbornes were the first ones to own this property," said Prythero. "This is our first marked burial."
Many graves and the history they represent, remain lost in the dry prairie grasses.
"I always wanted to see what was actually under the ground here, to see how many burials we truly had here," said Prythero.
Prythero convinced a team from the University of Denver to explore the cemetery with ground-penetrating radar equipment.
"We actually uncovered that we had 30 some bodies that we didn't have names for," said Prythero. "It's believed to be, not proven yet, around 90 something bodies buried here."
The last recorded burial occurred in 1917. Since that time, the cemetery has faded from the consciousness of the community.
"Since not many family members are left, and not many people truly care for this cemetery anymore. You have people who say, 'Oh, these people won't mind if I topple a headstone or break a headstone'," said Prythero.
Vandalism is rampant despite homes located in such a close proximity to the cemetery, leaving many tombstones knocked down or broken.
"All of the headstones that are lying down were upright," said Prythero. "You have so many cracks and the headstone is so brittle."
Prythero's enthusiasm about preserving the cemetery proved contagious. Arvada City Council quickly took notice of the property.
"The work he's done to raise our awareness of the importance of this site has really been instrumental in moving forward," said Grant.
That has spurred an effort to get the cemetery listed on Colorado's Registry of Historic Places.
"Hopefully it will raise the consciousness of the people in the area of the importance of this site, why it needs to be preserved and what the exact resources are out here; who was buried, what their history is and how that history relates to Arvada's development," said Grant.
"I really don't have any family here, but I just, I have a connection to the people here and that they deserve some credit for being the pioneers of this fine place that we see around us," said Prythero.
Additional Resources
To learn more about the Ralston Cemetery and other sites on this year's Most Endangered Places list visit coloradopreservation.org.
