Cemetery
Fairmount Cemetery
430 South Quebec Street
Denver, 80207
“The light and air of what is known, however difficult, is better than the dark. The facts of death, like the facts of life, are required learning”
The cemetery is a sacred place. Cemeteries are set apart spaces in every civilization. A cemetery is not only a place for the dead to rest, but a place for the living to realign their perspective on life.
To walk through a cemetery is to walk through history. Buried here are heroes who lived through wars, leaders who led through hardship, people who endured prejudice, and generations who sacrificed for progress. The ground they once walked over, they now lie under. Engraved on their stones - a name, two dates, and a dash - is a poignant reminder of the brevity of life.
Fairmount Cemetery was established in 1890. The property was formerly part of the Windsor Farm. The cemetery park, unaffiliated with a congregation or denomination, was designed by landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze. He planted over 4,000 trees, shrubs, and roses, making it Colorado’s largest arboretum, and one of the largest collections of heritage roses in North America. Schuetze was a German immigrant and Colorado’s first landscape architect. He would go on to design the grounds surrounding the State Capitol, City Park, and Washington Park.
Fairmount Cemetery is 280 acres, the largest cemetery in Colorado. Walking through it there is a vast stillness rarely experienced in the city. The two original buildings, the Little Ivy Chapel and the Gate Lodge, are icons of another era. Since it opened over 130 years ago, Fairmount Cemetery has been free and open to the public from sunrise to sunset.
Find a cemetery near you. Take a slow walk through it. Read the names and dates. Be reminded of the brevity and beauty of your own life. The cemetery is a sacred place.
View more historical information about Fairmount Cemetery.
