THE SILVER TERRACE CEMETERIES
		         Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada

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		     	 by Steve Lawrence and Milton Kelly- January 1998

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                  		     INTRODUCTION
     
The Silver Terrace Cemeteries embodies ten of the most frequently used cemeteries in the 
Virginia City area during the Comstock era.  The ten cemeteries are: Masonic, Oddfellows, 
West End, Firemen's, Silver Terrace, Wilson and Brown, Improved Order of Redmen, Knights of 
Pythias, City/County, and Catholic.  During Virginia City's heyday, these cemeteries provided 
a garden respite away from the crowds, noise, and activity common in a growing, 24-hour mining 
town.  

Local newspapers made note of the elaborate monuments, iron and picket fences, graveled walks 
and carriageways within the cemeteries. A garden-like atmosphere was created with trees, 
flowering plants such as morning glories, rose bushes, and thick carpets of clover.  This 
garden atmosphere implies an elaborate irrigation system to water and sustain the landscape.

As of 1997, the exact boundaries of the various sections were indistinct, headstones and fencing 
were missing or damaged because of theft, vandalism, or climate, and the trees, morning glories, 
and rose bushes of the past were gone, replaced by sagebrush, rabbitbrush, russian thistle, and 
various desert grasses and weeds.  In an effort to halt the deterioration, the Comstock Historic
District Commission has started to restore and renew the neglected cemeteries at least to their 
former dignity, if not their former glory.  Despite the poor condition of the cemeteries, a 
large number of elaborate monuments still exist such that the cemeteries remain a popular 
tourist attraction and a place where visitors can glimpse some of Virginia City's history.

The document is a compilation from two sources:  (1) Inventory Index of the Silver Terrace 
Cemeteries, edited by Bernadette S. Francke, Comstock Historic District Commission; and 
(2) Virginia City Cemetery Records compiled in 1960 by Daughters of the American Colonists. 
 
The author would like to thank and acknowledge the help of Eileen Kessler, Nevada State Library 
and Archives for providing copies of the two publications used for this current document, and 
Kelly J. Dixon, Comstock Historic District Commission for providing the brochure "Silver Terrace 
Cemeteries" and additional historical information.


				   CEMETERY LOCATION 

The cemeteries are located northeast of downtown Virginia City.  From Virginia City drive north 
on Main Street, turn right on Carson Street and turn left at the third street and follow the 
road to the parking lot.


				 GRAVE MARKER LOCATIONS

The document gives the locations of grave markers as designated in "Inventory Index of the 
Silver Terrace Cemeteries", compiled and edited by Bernadette S. Francke, Comstock Historic 
District Commission. There are no numbers on site that identify a particular grave site.  

Plot numbers include a letter (A-J) designating a subdivision within a cemetery section, and a 
number (001-200) identifying a plot within the subdivision.  However, without the aerial 
photographs included in the Francke manuscript, plot numbers given in this document provide 
only a general location of the grave sites in each cemetery section. 

The following abbreviations designate cemetery sections within which plots are located as 
identified by burial plot numbers:  Masonic section (MA); Oddfellows (OF); West End (WE); 
Wilson and Brown (WB); Firemen's (FI); Silver Terrace (ST); City/county (CO); 
Order of Redmen (RM); Knights of Pythias (KP); Catholic (CA).


   For the alphabetical sections of the Silver Terrace Cemeteries, please use your browser's
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