Placerville Union Cemetery, formerly Union Cemetery, is a burial ground formed in 1871 by a group of fraternal organizations, and located in Placerville,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It had been established as a private cemetery, and in 2005 the management was switched to the

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville-A ...

History

19th and 20th-centuries

The fraternal organizations that founded the cemetery in August 1871, included the Masons, the

Ancient Order of Druids The Ancient Order of Druids (AOD) is the senior neo-druid order in the world, and the oldest in continuous existence. It was formed in London, England, in 1781. It is represented in England, Wales, Scotland and the Commonwealth of Nations. Its ...

, Odd Fellows,

Improved Order of Red Men The Improved Order of Red Men is a fraternal organization established in North America in 1834. Their rituals and regalia are modeled after those assumed by men of the era to be used by Native Americans. Despite the name, the order was formed ...

Fraternal Order of Eagles Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington, by a group of six theater owners including John Cort (the first president), brothers John W. and Tim J. Considine, Harr ...

Native Sons of the Golden West The Native Sons of the Golden West is a fraternal service organization founded in the U.S. state of California in 1875, dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic ...

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

, and the Knights of Pythias. The internments in the graveyard include the various fraternal organization members, the Placerville city founders from the California Gold Rush, and

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

civil war veterans. From the time of the cemetery founding up until 2005, it had operated as a privately managed; with the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

in management until 1950.

21st-century

In 2000, Chapel of the Pines owned by the

Loewen Group Raymond L. "Ray" Loewen (born June 27, 1940) is a former business owner and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Burnaby-Edmonds in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1975 to 1979 as a Social Credit member. Born in ...

managed the cemetery, and there had been issues with improper cemetery burials, landscape maintenance issues, and vagrants living on the premise for two months. The County of El Dorado accepted management of the property in 2006, after a history of financial issues and money mismanagement faced by the burial ground. In the time of management change in 2006, there was a need to keep better records, as many of the paper grave records had gone missing, and to upgrade the water system. In February 2020, the headstones in the cemetery were damaged, and possibly vandalized. The Placerville Union Cemetery is purportedly haunted, which has attracted paranormal enthusiasts.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Cemeteries in California 1871 establishments in California Placerville, California

History

19th and 20th-centuries

21st-century

See also

References

External links