The colorful characters and historic figures laid to rest at Denver’s Riverside Cemetery should help illuminate the Moonlight History & Mystery tours happening tonight and continuing next weekend.
During these popular tours, volunteers will regale history buffs and Halloween fans alike with tales and lore as they survey the cemetery’s significant monuments.
“It was founded in 1876, and some of the stories are about things that just wouldn’t go on today,” says Patricia Carmody, executive director of the Fairmount Heritage Foundation, which works to preserve the history of Denver’s Riverside and Fairmount cemeteries.
One tale relates the story of Ly- ulph G.S. Ogilvy, an ebullient prankster and longtime Denver Post agriculture reporter who staged an elaborate mock funeral for himself.
“He realized that he wanted to be at his own party,” says Carmody. “So he staged a full funeral, then jumped out of the coffin at Riverside cemetery with a bottle of Scotch in hand.”
The tours begin at the Riverside Cemetery Chapel and Crematorium. Built in 1903 by architect Frank Edbrook — who also designed the Brown Palace Hotel and other notable Denver buildings — the chapel will be lit only by candlelight, with turn-of- the-century organ music helping to set the mood. Tourgoers are advised to dress warmly and bring flashlights. “We want to give people a sense of what the building was like when it was built,” Carmody says.
Many of the historic monuments have their own stories. Carmody cryptically mentions the “mystery of the Jones Mausoleum,” which will be revealed during the tour. “I don’t want to give away the secret, but it’s not what you would expect,” she says.
Carmody will say that Hartsville F. Jones was a wealthy saloonkeeper who died in 1900. “But that is not the end of the story,” Carmody says.
The marble angel that marks the grave of Marie Contassot offers another interesting chapter in Denver’s past. A Frenchwoman from a well-off family, she traveled to America, fell on hard times and then worked as a prostitute. Contassot was murdered in 1874 in her Market Street home. Although the murderer was never found, Contassot’s family later tracked down her body and erected the monument in her honor.
Other notable monuments include the Baker Horse, a life-size stone stallion carved to honor Addison Baker’s beloved Arabian horse; the incredibly detailed limestone carving of Lester Drake’s mine cabin; and the Wise monument, a zinc sculpture customized with George Wise’s exact Civil War soldier’s uniform and likeness.
“People are seriously intrigued by the history here,” says Carmody. “We don’t have to embellish or make anything up, because the true history is so interesting on its own.”
Riverside Cemetery Moonlight History & Mystery Tour
When: Today at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 22 and 23 at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Where: 5201 Brighton Blvd.
Tickets: $12; reservations highly recommended. Call 303-322-3895 or e-mail heritage@fairmount .
