Surprisingly, I discovered that Fairmount Cemetery is the burial site of Colorado's most notorious mass murderer, Colonel John Chivington. He was the architect of the Sand Creek Massacre where on November 29, 1864, a camp of peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Native Americans were massacred under his command of 675 soldiers of the US Army 1st Cavalry and Colorado militia volunteers. They slaughtered approximately 400 unarmed Natives where more than two-thirds of the victims were women, children, and tribal elders. Upon their return to Denver, they held a parade proudly displaying the body parts (politely speaking here) of their victims. I am of full European heritage and my Irish ancestors came to homestead near Brighton, Colorado around 1848. Therefore, it would not surprise me to learn that I may have had ancestors who participated in that most shameful atrocity. It seems that for those of us who have deep ancestral roots in Colorado history, that Fairmount Cemetery holds a place in our personal family memoirs.

This is a beautiful historic cemetery. They even have several military memorials, like the Spanish American War and historical organizations like the Odd Fellows. It has a lot of trees and is beautiful place to walk around.

I took the last tour of the 2019 season last night. It was the History Mystery tour starting from the Ivy Chapel. Hosted by the Fairmount History Foundation, it was wonderful. The tour began with check in at the Ivy Chapel with music on the pipe organ. I took the tour with Tom, a retired airline pilot who had a wonderful presentation on the famous and infamous whose final resting place is Fairmount. As it was getting really really cold the tour could have moved a little faster, but Tom had a lot of history to share and this will not be my last tour! Well done!

This cemetery is beautiful. It is along the highland trail that cuts through Denver so you can walk around inside. It has so many beautifully sculpted headstones and old military sections dedicated to soldiers. I have walked through this cemetery over 40 times with my dog and have just admired how pleasant this place is. Max - my dog of coarse respects the stones - no peeing and you can see wildlife like deer that come from the surrounding land.

In spite of the fine landscaping, pretty pathways, historic distinction, and artificial serenity, the grave site of Amanda Brooke Giordano is empty and stands as a ruse. She was murderer on 9/25/16 in California. No doubt as the truth surrounding her demise becomes more well known, her empty grave site will become as famous as that of the Silver Queen of Leadville, Colorado, Augusta Tabor.