National and State Register

Park County, Colorado, Historic Cemeteries

In Park County cemeteries were created in association with Euro-American settlement, whether as towns, mining camps, rural agricultural communities, or individual ranches. Although the county’s initial population consisted of mostly young men and women, they were not immune to sickness, accidents, and violence resulting in death in the fledgling frontier settlements. Places to bury the dead quickly became a necessity.

Park County included numerous settlements that were founded, experienced rapid growth, and quickly faded, as well as others surviving to the present day. Mining activity, railroad construction, ranching, tourism, and strategic routes of travel were factors resulting in concentrations of population and the creation of cemeteries. The associated context is Historic Cemetery Development in Park County, Colorado, 1859-1965.

The document provides a discussion of the principal types of settlements found within Park County with a focus on communities possessing the most relevance to the development of area cemeteries. The document defines three property subtypes under the general property type of Park County Cemetery:

  1. Town Cemetery
  2. Community Cemetery
  3. Family Cemetery

Cover documentation accepted by the National Register on 4/4/2017.

The following Park County cemeteries currently listed on the National Register are formally linked to this multiple property submission. To learn more about these properties, see the individual property entries on the Park County page.

Town Cemeteries

Park County, Colorado, Historic Cemeteries
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    Como Cemetery

    The Como Cemetery was established by the Town of Como in 1887, when a previous burial ground was closed due to its location just above a spring that provided water for some residents, leading to fears it was a possible source of water contamination. The Town Board enacted an ordinance requiring all burials in the old cemetery be removed to the new one. Como Cemetery provided funerary services for residents of Como, surrounding small settlements, and the broader rural ranching and mining area.