As Halloween draws near, we at Chin MacQuoid Fleming Harris find that our inner taphophile tendencies are sparked into flames. A taphophile is someone who has an interest in graveyards and headstones, and Park City’s history-packed cemeteries can make a taphophile out of anyone!
Glenwood Cemetery
Tucked away on Silver King Drive is an October must-see: Glenwood Cemetery. While there are no mining towers rising above the treetops or ore shafts that petered out decades ago, the cemetery documents Park City’s early decades as the final resting place for prominent families from as early as 1885. To be buried here was an honor for a select few. Even today, to be eligible for burial someone must have been a member of a local fraternal organization that dates back to the mining era. As such, it could be considered Park City’s first gated and highly exclusive address.
During the late 1800s, the bodies of Parkites were frequently taken to Salt Lake City for burial because there was no local cemetery. Local mining fraternal organizations acquired the land for Glenwood so their loved ones could be buried in the town they had helped build. In the 1960s and 1970s, Park City suffered a severe economic downturn as the mining industry faded. As a consequence, Glenwood fell into a state of disrepair. Vandals wreaked havoc in the cemetery during those years and the grounds became overgrown. The restoration began in the 1980s and Park City Historical Society acquired the cemetery in 2016.
976 people are buried in the 5-acres of Glenwood. Today, a body must be cremated before burial in an effort to preserve space. The Glenwood Cemetery Committee is the volunteer organization that has been responsible for the upkeep of this local treasure that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Each fall, Park City Museum makes history rise from the dead through re-enactors in costume standing at various Glenwood gravesites discussing the life and death of their character.
Park City Cemetery
The Park City Cemetery is Park City’s only public interment ground. However, like Glenwood, burial here is limited to those individuals who can meet the City’s requirements. Plots are available for purchase by residents living within the city limits, or those born in Miner’s Hospital, or those who can show proof of living in Park City for at least ten years at some point in their lives.
More than 2,000 individuals are buried in Park City Cemetery. A visit here reveals a wide swath of Park City’s early settlers and how they passed. In the winter of 1879, Pearle Snyder became the first person laid to rest here. Her father, George Snyder, was one of the area’s first full-time inhabitants and one of those responsible for naming our town Parley’s Park City, later shortened to Park City. When his daughter died, Snyder attempted to take her body to Salt Lake to be buried, but failed to complete the trip due to snow. He chose instead to bury her in a patch of south-facing ground in what was then Park City’s outskirts. The following spring, Snyder donated the land where Pearle was buried to the city to be used as a cemetery.
Reading the headstones in Park City Cemetery is literally a walk through our history. One of the most solemn locations in the cemetery are seven identical headstones standing in a row. All are engraved with the same date of death: July 15, 1902, the day of the Daly West Disaster, one of the deadliest mining accidents in Park City’s history. Headlines in The Park Record from July 19, 1902, documented the enormity of the catastrophe. “Most Appalling / Thirty-Four Lives Lost Through Explosion of Powder Magazine / Occurred on Daly West 1200.”
There are also many headstones of children, evidencing how tough it was to survive Park City’s harsh winters in the 1800s. While a solemn sadness comes with reading these, it also is one of the few ways we can truly appreciate the courage our town’s first families must have had. To lose a child, or worse yet, several children, and keep on living for hopes and dreams is a feat few of us believe we could accomplish.
There are more recent burials that continue to tell Park City’s story. A headstone carved in the shape of a snowboard reads: “Gregory Andrew Dres, born February 2, 1961, died December 26, 1996.” The inscription describes Gregory as an “Outdoorsman, Philosopher, Tile Artisan, Kind and Gentle Man and Friend to All.” The word “Avalanche” is inscribed before his date of death.
As the days are getting shorter and the nights cooler, October sparks our imaginations with the spooky and ghoulish. While a walk through Park City’s graveyards after dark may be too frightening, a visit during the day is fascinating. We encourage you to delve into our history through the lives of the individuals who founded this place. Who knows, you may find your own inner taphophile!
