Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery

Denver’s Riverside Cemetery: Where History Lies

For anyone interested in the remarkable history of Riverside Cemetery, there is no better single resource than Annette Student’s book, published in 2006, called “Riverside Cemetery: Where History Lies.”

As the Colorado Geneology Blog, cogenblog, said when the book was published last year:

A new book has just been published about Denver’s historic Riverside Cemetery, Colorado’s oldest “cemetery park” founded in 1876 (the same year Colorado became a state). According to the author, Annette L. Student, the book not only includes a history of the cemetery, but also 114 biographies of interesting Colorado citizens, including governors and other notable citizens ranging from cattlemen to prostitutes.

You can pick up the book in a number of bookstores locally:
Barnes and Noble (at a number of their Denver area stores)
Tattered Cover (online or at their stores – check for locations).
Colorado Historical Society bookstore (10% discount to CHS members; all copies signed by author).

The book is also available from the author; if you order directly, your copy can be personally autographed. You can contact the author by writing to the following address:

Annette L. Student
2266 South Eagle Court
Aurora, Colorado 80014

Thanks to our friends at CoGenBlog for posting this information as well.

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Honoring Ceremony at Riverside Cemetery

Riverside Cemetery will be one of the locations taking part in the 9th Annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run/Walk. Specifically, there will be an honoring ceremony at Riverside at 8:00 am on Saturday, November 24th.

This honoring ceremony is for two members of the United States Cavalry, Captain Silas Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer, who resisted the call by Colonel John Chivington to massacre defenseless members of the Cheyenne tribe at Sand Creek in November of 1864.

Captain Silas Soule is a fascinating character, as you can tell from his wikipedia entry. Born in Maine to a family of abolitionists, he spent some time in Kansas working to ensure its entry into the union as a free state. He came to Colorado and eventually became commander of Company D in the 1st Colorado Cavalry. After the atrocities of Sand Creek, he testified against Colonel Chivington, and also wrote passionate letters describing the massacre. According to this article on historynet.com,

Soule testified forcefully against Chivington. His comments were crucial to the committee’s findings. When the hearings ended, the committee branded Chivington’s raid at Sand Creek “a cowardly and coldblooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation.”

Four months later he was killed in his Denver home by Charles Squires, who most likely had been hired by men loyal to Chivington. More information on Silas Soule can also be found on findagrave.com.

The Silas Soule honoring ceremony is just a small part of the planned spiritual healing walk/run. Here is the full calendar of events the group has planned:

November 22-24, 2007

Thursday
7:00 a.m. – Sunrise ceremony at the Sand Creek Massacre Site (18 miles northeast of Eads, CO)
8:00 a.m. – Healing Run starts

Friday
7:00 a.m. – Sunrise ceremony, continue healing run to Denver.
7:00 p.m. – Candlelight Vigil at the Denver Art Museum Wheel sculpture, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway.

Saturday
8:00 a.m. – Honoring ceremony at Riverside Cemetery, 5201 Brighton Blvd., in Denver, CO.
9:00 a.m. – Continue the healing run to the State Capitol building. Walkers will join the runners and everyone will walk the last mile. Must register to participate at 15th & Arapahoe.
11:00 a.m. – Presentation at the Colorado State Capitol Building on the west side. There will be a reception for the participants at the Colorado Historical Society, Boettcher Auditorium, 1300 Broadway in Denver.

For information you can contact Otto Braided Hair (406) 592-3599, or Bill Tall Bull at (303) 695-4175 or email sandcreek@rangeweb.net.

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A big thank you

Thank you to all who attended the organizational meeting for the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery on Saturday, November 17th. A special thank you goes out to Father Joseph Hirsch for allowing us to use the Meeting Hall at the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral.

We had over 30 members of the community attend the meeting, and it was a productive and passionate discussion. We are very excited that ten individuals have volunteered to join our ‘startup’ interim board of directors.

The meeting agenda and notes are available here (in PDF format).

More information will be posted on this site in the near future.

Thanks again to everyone who offered their passion and insight to help save a true historical and cultural gem.

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Riverside in the news

Many of you may have seen the terrific article by Tom McGhee in The Denver Post on October 29th.

Now Adam Goldstein has written a great article on the history of Riverside that was just published in the Commerce City Sentinel Express. The article talks about the many veterans who are buried at riverside, from the Mexican American War to the Gulf War. He interviews Chuck Counts, who says:

The cemetery opened in 1876.
Until the turn of the century, it was the pre-eminent cemetery (in Denver). This is Colorado history right here … I look at it that it’s a treasure.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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Welcome to Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery

Welcome to the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery website.

Riverside is Denver’s oldest and most historic cemetery; sadly, it is also the most neglected. As an organization, our goal is to increase the awareness of Riverside as a historical and cultural treasure in order to begin the process of restoring and revitalizing the cemetery. It has been largely ignored for many years, and it’s going to take a lot of time, energy, and money to get it moving in the right direction.

We are in the process of setting up a new non-profit, Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery. How our organization will evolve in the future is still to be determined, but we’re convinced that in some way we will help to improve Riverside.

We are having an organizational meeting on Saturday, November 17th, at 11am, and we encourage all interested members of the community to attend.

We are looking for people who want to get involved in a variety of ways, from board members to volunteers to historians. If you or anyone you know might be interested, definitely attend our meeting.

Here’s the info:
Meeting to discuss the formation of
Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery

Date and Time: Sat., Nov. 17, 2007, 11AM
Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral Meeting Hall
349 E 47th Ave
Denver, CO 80216
directions from google
www.transfigcathedral.org

To RSVP for this meeting, send an email to Jan Allan (JAllan223@aol.com) or Hugh Graham (hugh@hughgrahamcreative.com)

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