Just before the preface of Denver historians Mark A. Barnhouse and James M. Cavoto Sr.’s new book “Historic Cemeteries of Denver,” there’s a photo of a headstone. It marks the burial place of no one person; instead, the photo marks the cemetery itself — in this case, at the Golden Cemetery, though Barnhouse says it sits in other sites as well. “This is a cemetery,” reads the stone. “Lives are commemorated — deaths are recorded — families are reunited — memories are made tangible and love is undisguised…Communities accord respect, families bestow reverence, historians seek information, and our heritage is thereby enriched.”
It’s a spot-on salutation to the book that follows, an in-depth look at five major local cemeteries (Riverside, Fairmount/Emmanuel, Mount Olivet, Crown Hill, and Fort Logan) plus a full chapter devoted to some of the smaller but just as important cemeteries in and near the Mile High City. In all, the book covers more than a dozen Denver-area burial grounds — and at the same time discusses how those who lay in repose there shaped today’s Colorado.
“Historic Cemeteries of Denver” is only one of many books by Barnhouse, author of “Lost Department Stores of Denver,” “Tattered Cover Book Store: A Storied History,” and many others, all of them listed on his website.
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