AURORA, Colo — This month, Mount Nebo Memorial Park and Cemetery received designation as a National Historic Site. The Aurora cemetery serves as a time capsule to the Jewish communities in Colorado’s Front Range dating back to the late 1800s.
Many tombstones at the cemetery, founded in 1898 and incorporated in 1904, tell a story of the city’s Jewish past, detailing the contributions of the Jewish community, including businessmen, artists and community leaders.
“The designation protects the cemetery’s future. You just can’t dig this place up and build apartments here, ever,” said Jay Siegal, the administrator of the nonprofit Jewish cemetery. “Colorado protects its cemeteries, but now it is protected as a historic site as well.”…