Memorial Day Visit to Cripple Creek Cemetery

One of my favorite places in the world is Cripple Creek Colorado. This once famous gold mining camp was home to many famous people of Colorado back in the Gold Rush Days. It is chocked full of history and there is just something about the mountains around this small town that just calls my heart home. Once you have visited here, it will stay with your for a long time.

One of the most famous people of all time in this Gold Rush Town was Pearl DeVere. She was the famous Madam who ran a very "classy" gentleman's establishment....ahem......you can read about her legend HERE. You will want to take the time to do so, it is very interesting.

Today "The Old Homestead" still stands on Myers Avenue just as it once did, and serves as a historic museum. What a step back in time it is to visit here and listen to the tales of Cripple Creek from the guides.

Here is Bennett Avenue...or better known as main street. It still looks pretty much the way it did (minus the casinos) in 1895 after reconstruction from a fire that destroyed almost the whole town. The architecture on the building fronts is still so interesting to view and photograph. The mountain in the back view from Bennett Avenue is where Cripple Creek's Mt. Pisgah Cemetery is located.

I love to visit this old cemetery. I always have and there is hardly a time we are not out in Colorado that we don't make a drive through or a walk around this historic place. Here is a view from the cemetery looking back towards town. The views in the fall when the Aspen trees are golden is a sight to behold.

This cemetery is so interesting, and a real history lesson in itself. If you take the time to walk amongst the graves, read the headstones you can pretty much piece together the lives of those who used to live in this historic place. It is really one of my favorite things to do.

I can almost guarantee this Memorial Day, Pearl will not be forgotten. I have never paid ole' Pearl a visit that her grave was not laden with trinkets of all kinds. Everything from face cream, lotions, coins, jewelry, lotto tickets, flowers, soda pop, food items, ash trays, lighters, playing cards....if you will think about it, maybe these items are things Pearl would have enjoyed while here among us. I have even been known to leave a few things behind at Ole' Pearl's grave a time or two. (Usually, it's when Steve is walking ahead of me somewhere, I think he sometimes thinks I have a little problem)...Ahem....

One thing is for sure, Pearl draws me to the mountains high on the hill atop this historic town. I always visit her grave, pause and just stop and say a prayer. Her story.. her life.. her death holds much interest for me, and her story is such a romantic one... in a grim sorta way.

Now, IF, I believed I had ever lived in the past, I would be most sure, I walked the streets of this town in its heyday....Most likely I did not make a living working for ole' Pearl. But none the less, I could have been one of the "good girls" who looked a little too long behind the bolts of fabrics at the dry goods store as she passed on the street. I am sure "good girl" or not, she would have held a fascination for me even then, and that fascination would most likely had been hard to contain. Yep, I tend to believe that is just how it was, IF I believed in that sort of thing. Just sayin'.....

Thanks for letting me entertain you with Pearl's story. You can rest assured, she will have many visitors and lots of trinkets left at her grave today, for Memorial Day.