What's New?

For starters, this newsletter! This is the first issue of Grave News, the monthly newsletter of Colorado-Cemeteries.com. In this e-zine, you'll get news and updates about the site, plus a few tidbits you won't find anywhere else on the site.

Also new is a page of recommended cemetery resources, and a page on cemetery day trips from Denver.

Coming Soon!

The long-awaited searchable database is coming along. When it debuts, you will be able to see pictures for each grave marker, search across all cemeteries for a single surname, and do some custom searching.

Also coming soon, you will be able to purchase complete databases for each cemetery, to use and easy add details to your own records without needing to re-type anything! The cemetery packages will be reasonably priced, starting at about $3.00 for the smallest cemeteries (300 and fewer markers). For that price, you will get the full records of each cemetery, maps, pictures, GPS coordinates, inscriptions, and more. The files will be downloadable, so, instant access to the whole cemetery.

Three more cemetery transcriptions are awaiting the completion of the database for inclusion on the site. They are: Wesley Chapel Cemetery, Adams County, Rocky Mountain IOOF #2 Cemetery, Gilpin County, and Central City's Masonic Cemetery, Gilpin. For a taste of these cemeteries, look for pictures on Facebook!

Featured Article

Visiting a cemetery is not just for Memorial Day. Many cultures around the world have celebrations to honor the dead and visit their graves.

In China, the Ching Ming (or Qingming) Festival is celebrated in April. Chinese people of all ages go to the cemetery and offer prayers at the graves of their ancestors. The visitors also clear the grave site, and offer food or burn symbolic paper money.

Of course, in Latin American cultures there is also The Day of the Dead, which occurs the first and second day of November, coinciding with the Catholic "All Souls" or "All Saints" Day, even if the roots of the tradition go further back than Christianity. Some people visit the cemetery, others make private altars to the deceased's memory at home. The altars will often contain pictures or personal items of the departed, as well as food or beverages. Like the Chinese tradition, the graves will be cleaned and decorated. Anecdotes or stories about the deceased are shared.

Similar observances are part of Japanese, Korean, and African cultures. All people seem to have a need to acknowledge and visit the people that have gone from our lives.

Cemetery of the Month

It is my great pleasure to introduce Lakeview Cemetery in the city and county of Broomfield. This choice is not a coincidence, as this was the first cemetery transcription I've ever completed, and the first to be presented on Colorado-Cemeteries.com. You might have wondered, why the cemetery is called Lakeview, when there's no lake for miles around.

Like many cemeteries, this was established when the geography of the ever-changing city was very different. The plot of land that is now home to the high school, was, in fact, a lake in 1890.

Around the Web

A new cemetery/genealogy group has started in the last few months. The association, known as The Association of Graveyard Rabbits has begun to recruit grave enthusiasts from around the country. Membership is by invitation only, but, the current members are posting up a storm. Check them out.

Find us in Facebook!

More pictures! More discussion! More cemeteries! Introducing a new way to keep up with all the Colorado-Cemeteries.com news, and even talk about the site with other "fans."