Telluride Museum Supports Remembrance Day, 9/6!

03 Sep Telluride Museum Supports Remembrance Day, 9/6!

On Friday, September 6th, the Museum will partner with the Lone Tree Cemetery Board to host a new fundraising event, “Remembrance Day.”The event, an open house-style tour of the cemetery, will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the Lone Tree Cemetery’s Preservation Fund. 

Lone Tree Cemetary

According to the Telluride Historical Museum Executive Director, Kiernan Lannon, the Museum felt compelled to help the Cemetery Board raise money for the cemetery’s ongoing care and maintenance because the Museum regularly uses the historic resource.



“As one of the cultural organizations in town that regularly uses the cemetery as part of our programming, we do feel some responsibility to ensure that Lone Tree is well cared for,” Lannon explained. “Perhaps more than any organization aside from the cemetery board itself, we can appreciate what an exceptional resource the cemetery is for this community.”



The cemetery, which is funded primarily through a property tax mill levy and burial plot sales, has a long list of ongoing maintenance projects it needs to address.

“I know the board appreciates the funding they do receive,” Lannon said, “but it is fairly limited. They do a tremendous job with what they have, but the Museum wanted to see if there was a way we could lend a hand as well.”

The event highlights both Telluride’s more recent and more distant past and will feature speakers stationed at graves to tell stories and offer history. Among the more historical graves the tour will include are the Remine Brothers – Civil War veteran siblings who fought on opposite sides of the war, but trekked to Colorado in search of mining fortune; Lizzie Dailey, a rare example of a “Lady of the Night” laid to rest at a marked gravesite; and Little Ned Andrus, the first person to be buried in the cemetery. The tour will also include stops at the graves of a number of more recently deceased former residents including Elaine Fischer, Peter and Scott Spencer, and David Lavender.

In most cases, the speakers at each gravesite will have some connection to the person about whom they are speaking – whether they are a friend or family member of the more recent former town residents, or they have a connection to or passion about the history represented by the more distant historical graves.

“I know that both the Museum and the Cemetery were eager to include both more recent and more historical gravesites as part of the event. We wanted to show that the cemetery is a valuable resource both as a historical record and as a way to keep the stories of those in the community who have more recently passed away alive and vibrant. These are people who will likely be familiar to residents of town today – and their stories are absolutely worth telling,” Lannon added. “We don’t want to forget how important these folks were and are to the community.”



The Museum and Cemetery Board are requesting a$20 donation per person to gain entry to the event. Guests will be able to access the cemetery via the west gate off of Columbia Avenue and the main gate off of Colorado Avenue. From there, visitors are free to visit the highlighted graves at their leisure, or explore any part of the cemetery they wish.

In addition to featuring the stories of approximately ten individuals interred in the cemetery, the event will also feature light refreshments donated by Rustico and Clark’s Market.



“In the end, we hope this will be a valuable and meaningful event for our guests and participants,” Lannon said. “Ultimately, even if we can raise some awareness as to the importance of the Cemetery to the community, if we can show that the Cemetery is essential to Telluride’s past and present, I think Remembrance Day will have been a success. And getting people to think of the Cemetery and see it in a different light while also raising funds for its ongoing care and maintenance would be incredible. I hope people will join us on Friday afternoon.”



If anyone would like to contribute, but cannot attend the event, they can send a contribution to Lone Tree Cemetery District One, PO Box 3665, Telluride, CO 81435 or email info@lonetreecemetery.org for more information.