I've always loved this cemetery because of the size, setting, and history of the place. Most of my family is buried at Green Mountain Cemetery. The front-gate sign says it was established in 1904, but I've seen headstones with burial dates as early as 1868.
I'm so sad that in recent years it has fallen from its wonderful condition. Back then the roads were graded to remove all the ruts, trees were trimmed and dead ones removed, grounds were well watered, weeds killed, and grass fertilized. This is not to say it was kept like a golf course, but it was well maintained.
Now it seems that the cemetery is operating on a very limited budget. The water was turned on a week after Memorial Day this year (the day posted at the office). Memorial Day is pretty much the summer opening and there are hundreds of families out there trying to clean up grave sites, plant urns, and leave flowers in vases - and they had to carry 1 gallon jugs of water from the office! Every section has dead trees that need to be removed. The grounds are more weeds than grass (or often just dirt). And if you visit in August, most of the grounds are basically dead. The staff level to maintain the grounds in summer are about a fourth of what I saw there years ago. The large mausoleum on the hill has many roof tiles missing and more falling off.
I believe the staff to be caring, but they seem to lack resources to get the job done. Granted the burial plot and service fees include perpetual care, but if the accounts are not managed well there is little left for actual maintenance.
My sister provided a great suggestion. Perhaps the Boulder Historical Society (or similar or other groups) could get involved for additional resources and awareness: cemetery tours, documenting historical people's graves, etc. How about carving some of those dead trees into sculpture art (donated time hopefully)? That would save some of the cost of cutting them down.
There is still undeveloped property in this large cemetery, so available space should be no problem for years to come. But if they can't keep up with what they have, I worry about the future! read more