Grand Canyon Pioneer Cemetery, also known as Pioneer Cemetery, is a historic cemetery located near the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

's South Rim. It is also known as South Rim Cemetery and the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Cemetery due to its association with the

veterans' organization A veterans' organization, also known as an en-GB, ex-service organisation, label=none, is an organization composed of persons who served in a country's armed forces, especially those who served in the armed forces during a period of war. The organ ...

. The cemetery is home to some 400 individual graves. The cemetery closed to new burials in 2017, but remains open for visitation. Burial criteria include a three-year stint at the Park, and a significant contribution thereto. Among those buried there are pioneers, NPS administrators of

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often consider ...

and residents of

Grand Canyon Village Grand Canyon Village is a census-designated place (CDP) located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. Its population was 2,004 at the 2010 Census. Located in Grand Canyon National Park, it is whol ...

including John Hance (1840–1919) early white settler and Grand Canyon guide, Pete Berry, Ralph H. Cameron (1863–1953) American businessman, prospector, and politician William Wallace Bass, members of the Kolb Family (Ellwworth and Emery), who established the

Kolb Studio The Kolb Studio is a historic structure situated on the edge of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon Village within Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. It was operated from 1904 until 1976 as the photographic studio of brothers E ...

, and M.R. Tillotson. Hance is the first to have been buried there. Also buried in the cemetery are the unidentified remains of the victims on the

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

flight involved in the

1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred in the Western United States, western United States on Saturday, June 30, 1956, when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over Grand Canyon ...

, with a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

of 31 names. Other noteworthy burials include: *

William J. Breed William J. "Bill" Breed (August 3, 1928 - January 22, 2013) was an American geologist, paleontologist, naturalist and author in Northern Arizona. He was a renowned expert on the geology of the Grand Canyon. Personal life William J. Breed was ...

(1928–2013) geologist and expert on the Grand Canyon * David White (1862–1935) who studied the Grand Canyon *

Gunnar Widforss Gunnar Mauritz Widforss (October 21, 1879 – November 30, 1934) was a Swedish American artist who specialized in painting subjects from the wilderness in watercolor. Widforss is most frequently associated with landscapes from American Nati ...

(1879–1934) Swedish-American painter.

References

External links

* * * * {{coord, 36.0544951, -112.1250879, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-AZ, display=title Cemeteries in Arizona Coconino County, Arizona