“COLORADO
SPIRIT QUEST”
The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many
individuals near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes to pay
respect the many pioneer ancestors that ‘walked’ before
us.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in the city, rural and mountain
communities across Colorado. This series will introduce you
to many of them.
The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the
cemeteries and tombstones.
COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST is not affiliated with any other Spirit Quest
group. Special thanks and credit is given to SixDogTeam who
started the Indiana Spirit Quest in 2004. The idea has rapidly
spread into many states.
The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task. It can
not be accomplished by just one or two people. This projects
will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer
cachers willing to place caches.
After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back
on the lives of these pioneers and the effort it took to make
Colorado a great state.
If you are
interested in joining the “Walking Through History Clan” contact
may be made by sending an e-mail to the owner of “Colorado Spirit
Quest #1 – The Passage through the Mountains”. Use the ‘Send
Message” link at the center of the page of their
profile.
Each person that places a cache will be responsible for
the maintenance of such.
REMEMBER:
If
you are APPREHENSIVE about cemeteries – AVOID this
series.
Littleton Cemetery
6155
South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado 80120
Caretakers at the Littleton Cemetery believe that unofficial
burials began there before the first records were kept and, in
fact, before it was a designated burial ground. Numbered interments
in the record books begin in 1869. Some of the land was once part
of Judge Lewis B. Ames' farm. Richard Little also donated some
acreage when he platted the town of Littleton in 1872. In 1875 Ames
deeded the cemetery to the local Weston Masonic Lodge. A history of
the Lodge says that the plat was drawn by their secretary, Charles
Comstock.
The cemetery belonged to the Lodge for about thirteen years
before they deeded it to the Littleton Cemetery Association in
January 1888. It was still referred to as the Masonic Cemetery for
some time afterwards. The Cemetery Association, which is the owner
yet today, is a non-profit organization now run by five directors
elected from its stockholders. As such, the cemetery is a private
cemetery, not one owned or maintained by the city. The first
directors were Judge Ames, Joseph W. Bowles, and Peter Magnes.
A history and description of the cemetery is included along with
names from inscriptions and office records in a publication by the
local Mount Rosa Chapter, NSDAR. It gives an account of how the
cemetery was gradually neglected until 1921, when A. E. Gray, owner
of the Littleton Drug Store, lost his son and resolved to beautify
the burying ground. He, along with E. F. Burden, Frank Ford, and
others, worked to reactivate the Cemetery Association and to create
an endowment fund for its upkeep. Water for irrigation comes partly
from wells and partly from rights in the Nevada Ditch by diversion
through the City Ditch.
The flagpole in the northeast section near Prince Street marks the
"Veterans' Circle," where persons who served in America's wars,
from the Civil War to World War II, are interred.
Some of Littleton's well-known early citizens rest in this pleasant
cemetery which commands a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains'
Front Range. They include Richard and Angeline Little; Mrs.
Little's parents, John and Mary Harwood; Peter and Maria Magnes;
Fred and Elizabeth Bemis; Edwin and Katherine Bemis; Joseph W. and
Cynthia Bowles; Julius D. and Inez Hill; Charles G. and Lorena
Louthan; Clark Z. and Julia Cozens; Harry and Jessie Nutting;
Rupert and Annie Nutting; Dr. Walter and Ada Crysler; Samuel T. and
Adelaide Culp; Ebenezer and Eliza Jull; John G. and Louisa Lilley;
Fred and Orra Comstock; Edward F. Batschelet; Robert J. and Jessie
Spotswood; Oscar and Eudora Hill; Father Francis and Henrietta
Byrne; A. J. and Mary Valore; Rev. George and Laura Edmundson;
Abraham and Alice Howarth; Dr. Franklin and Elizabeth Crocker;
Walter and Mabel Ficklin; and Alfred Packer.