Prescott's IOOF Cemetery

Elks. Moose. Eagles. Masons. Modern Woodmen. Knights of Pythias. Odd Fellows. Today one seldom hears mention of these fraternal orders, remnants of a different past, when many people in American towns small and large joined together voluntarily to solve problems -- and enjoy one another's society. deToqueville wrote about it in the 19th century; most recently, a pop sociologist produced another book on the great change away from social bonding, Bowling Alone.

A quick check of the local yellow pages showed that the Elks, Eagles, Moose and Odd Fellows are still in business as well as the Masons, though one seldom hears mention. Certainly the heritage remains: the great silvery elk atop the old opera house ... the recently refurbished Knights of Pythias building, one of the oldest in town ... the IOOF cemetery, as well.

Larger than I had expected, it's located in the hills at the foot of Virginia Street and still accepts burials. None of the famous Prescottonians are interred here, though there is one "friend" of Billy the Kid, John William Young Kinney, a cattle rustler.

Monuments range from the oversized memorial dedicated to the Rebekah women's lodge above to a simple wooden cross erected in 2003.

A profusion of color is evidence that this continues as an active burial ground.

Above -- a child's grave; below, the tragic story of one family's loss. Visit an old cemetery to be reminded the high death rate of youngsters a century ago.

Guy was Honest. Brave. True. What about Hannie, his wife?

Another simple, homemade cross.

Is this, perhaps, a shovel -- symbolizing a life spent in the mines? Below, a flagstone memorial.

More information about this grave marker will be found among this group of photos.

Here, a freshly dug grave.

And the raven who presides over it all.

Cemetery project: Del Rio

Actually, this is by way of introduction to a project that I and a buddy are considering. The picture was lent to me by another friend who's part of a project to locate the bounds of the small graveyard on private land just north of Chino Valley. According to Bobbi, the CV Historical Society is going to Del Rio Ranch, site of the first provisional capitol of the AZ Territory. We are going to try to find the perimeter of the graveyard and mark it so we can eventually fence it and keep the cows off it. There are only 3 graves marked and there are 67 names on record. (Perhaps cows will be the least of their worries, as I understand that the town of CV has reached an agreement that will allow development of at least some of the Del Rio property.) But back to the subject matter: friend Andy and I are going to locate and photograph a few of the Prescott area cemeteries, starting with the IOOF grounds.

Prescott's Historic Grave Sites

(Sorry to be late, but I wound up spending far too much time with PhotoShop, as there were over 25 pictures that needed processing, sizing, etc.! That's the problem with events or places where I keep clicking the shutter -- it always turns out that there are far more pics than suitable for a blog post. Followed by dithers, as to which to use and which to leave out. Which takes time. Etc.) In the meantime, back to the Citizens' Cemetery over on East Sheldon near Yavapai College. It was spring when friend Patty and I paid our visit to see the wildflowers. At that time, I promised a look at the grave markers.

A few facts about the graveyard, per the Yavapai Cemeteries website: The cemetery has more than 2,700 known (and many unknown) pioneers interred on 6.5 acres. Burials continued on a regular basis from 1864 to 1933. Following 1933, burials were held only for persons or family members who had already reserved a plot. In August 1994, Citizens Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and later included in the Prescott Armory Historic Preservation District. In order to protect the historic integrity of the cemetery, the Board of Supervisors has now closed the cemetery to all burials.

You might describe the shot above as then and now; the cemetery abuts the old Armory on the south, a mobile home court on the east and a handful of homes plus the Smoki on the west. The graveyard was neglected and weed grown when, in 1994, a group of local citizens formed an organization to restore this historic site. In spring, the plants, which include many local wildflowers, are allowed to flourish in the back half of the cemetery. One of the innovations of the Yavapai Cemetery Association is an old-fashioned Memorial Day service each year, honoring veterans of the Civil War and WWII, among others.

A handful of the monuments were of a red stone -- possibly sandstone. Do you suppose that part of the restoration effort has included removing lichen? Compare the upper stone with the cross below.

Another of the red stone monuments -- this in the form of a tree trunk. Yet another tree trunk is visible below, in the eastward view towards P-Mountain.

Natural granites and a shovel are among the other unusual markers at the cemetery. Is it likely that the man interred below was a miner?

A very very old wooden cross (above) and a pyramid (below).

Here are another pair of stones with a difference.

The occasional children's or infant's grave is a reminder that life was unforgiving in pioneer days. Particularly sad, above, is the marker for three children of the Day family.

This small stone for a dead infant is part of the Randall family plot (above, below).

Many of the more ornate grave monuments above and in the pictures that follow; I hope you enjoy your tour.

At the far end of the cemetery are a number of stones with current dates that appear to belie the statement that the Citizens Cemetery is closed to new burials. In fact, one stone for man and wife was as yet undated for the surviving partner. All of which has me curious, but then I'm always curious.

Festival of the Trees: The August edition of this monthly compilation of quite fascinating blog posts about trees is now on line at Trees, Plants and More. Subjects covered range from the Christmas tree farms of North Carolina to using shotguns to help reproduction of the American chestnut to a description of ten important tropical fruit trees. And I thank Arati for including my mash note about the Arizona sycamore.

The cemetery wildflower crop

My apologies to the Yavapai Cemetery Association. I've borne a grudge all these years, it seems unnecessarily. To back up many years: when we first moved to Prescott, the Citizens Cemetery grounds as seen from Sheldon Street were brilliant with red paintbrush every spring. Not only that, but the cemetery harbored one of the few stands of mariposa lilies within the city limits. Admittedly, the grounds were not very kempt, but for my money, the wildflowers were well worth putting up with those straggly weeds and the general air of disrepair.

Then in the late 80s, I believe it was, a group was formed to rescue the historic old cemetery from its gradual decline. One of the first things they did was mow the grounds. No more brilliant paintbrush in spring. I was devastated -- not to mention pissed off to the point of writing a letter of complaint to the editor of The Courier. Now, thanks to an article in Friday's paper, I find that I jumped to conclusions. It seems that the group had in essence tidied the parlor but left the back yard on its own. Reporter Joanna Dodder wrote of all the wild flowers our wet May had brought to the grounds at the far end, away from the streetside. Among them the paintbrush you see here.

Friend Patty and I spent an early afternoon today admiring and photographing not only the flowers but also many of the tombstones and monuments. And yes, there were lovely little mariposa lilies scattered about in the midst of dry grass.

These wild desert lilies are among my favorite wildflowers. In addition to the white/pale lavender blossoms of the local variety, mariposas in the greater Prescott area also grow in buttery yellow (north toward Chino Valley) and vivid orange-red (slightly lower elevations to the south and west). Note how different the flowers are in these two pictures taken a few feet apart.

Another spring beauty you seldom see in the city is wild phlox. Plenty of them at the cemetery. I've tried to swipe a plant or two for my hillside, but discovered that the phlox, like the mariposas, have roots reaching down toward the center of the earth. That's the arid country for you. No nursery sells the plant nor have I been able to locate seed from sellers of wildflower seed.

One disappointment from today's excursion. Dodder's feature mentioned that there were also blue delphiniums on the cemetery grounds. Tho we looked, nary a blue blossom. The nearest to blue was the purple alfalfa. All in all, I have to admit that the compromise between tidy and wild struck by the cemetery association appears to be working well. (Yes, I'll soon post pictures from the cemetery proper.)

Linkage: The Verde Independent is running a series of articles on the Big Chino water controversy by Steve Ayres. Part 1, Part 2, and Part3 had been published as of this writing. For more info about Yavapai County Cemeteries, this page is a good starting point.