Cemeteries of all sizes are spread across the world, but few manage to attract anyone besides those who have come to pay their respect to the deceased. Mount Moriah Cemetery, in Deadwood, South Dakota, has done that and so much more by becoming a landmark for the region. In doing so, it has been able to do everything from create a gift shop to become a notable feature in guides to the city, all of which have enabled a notable economic and cultural impact on Deadwood and for South Dakota.
The Final Resting Place of Deadwood’s Most Famous Residents
Laid out on a mountainous plateau overlooking Deadwood Gulch, Mount Moriah has a history that dates back to 1878. Prospectors, miners and settlers of the era had been buried in other location before this time, but the creation of Mount Moriah saw many of these bodies reinterred in the new cemetery over the next decade along with original burials. In 1949, Mount Moriah was officially closed to new burials.
There are four different sections in the graveyard, which is tied to the Victorian customs of the time period when cemeteries were laid out in an oval configuration and divided into four sections. Potter’s Field contains the graves of unknown people that were reburied without a stone or marker. There’s also a Jewish section that is tied to the early days of Deadwood when a large Jewish population resided in the town. A Mass Grave site contains a large number of people that perished in a lumber mill fire. Finally, a Children’s Section contains adolescents who died from typhus, cholera, and smallpox.
Amidst the four sections are the graves of some of the most notable figures of the Wild West. Mount Moriah contains the remains of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary, Seth Bullock, “Potato Creek Johnny” Perrett and many others. The notoriety of these figures has helped to draw attention to the cemetery, but the experiences that have been enabled throughout it are what has allowed it to become a landmark for the region.
Taking Only Photographs and Leaving Only Memories
Mount Moriah is a sacred place and numerous signs and notices call out that it needs to be treated with respect. Visitors are encouraged to take only photographs and leave nothing but memories, but the experiences that have enabled them to do this are especially notable.
A walking tour guide of the cemetery is available for visitors, allowing them to easily locate the graves of all the notable Deadwood residents. It also provides them with info and insight about all of these people, while pointing out the location of other places they should visit throughout Mount Moriah.
Further insights about these people and the different sections of the cemetery are showcased on numerous plaques, while the different rows have distinct names that allow residents to easily make their way around the area. Signs also point the way to notable attractions that visitors will want to make sure they see and experience.
Many of these experiences are the result of the efforts of the City of Deadwood and the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce to promote Mount Moriah as a tourist attraction. This original effort led to improvements to the cemetery, the most notable of which was the construction of retaining walls for the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.
These efforts in the past and present have allowed Mount Moriah to become more than a cemetery that attracts visitors from across the region and world.
Mount Moriah as a Landmark
There is an admission fee to Mount Moriah that represents a powerful source of direct revenue. Additionally, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Visitor Center contains numerous items available for purchase. It also has interpretive panels focusing on cemetery history, native and introduced plant species, cemetery symbolism and death statistics within Deadwood from 1875 to 1900.
These funds helped to provide revenue for necessary cemetery restorations and improvements. In the 1990s, Mount Moriah would undergo a $4.8 million dollar restoration. One of the results of this cemetery restoration was the installation of the bronze marker in the likeness of “Wild Bill” that was dedicated in 2002.
All of these elements and experiences have allowed Mount Moriah to become a notable and important element of tours, maps and guides to the city. The City of Deadwood has numerous attractions and activities, but being able to feature Mount Moriah as such an important one has proven to be an important draw for the city and numerous businesses in the region. Being able to do so also ties into how “Wild Bill” has been able to become an icon for Deadwood.
Mount Moriah Cemetery provides visitors with an opportunity to learn about and experience Deadwood’s past in numerous ways, all of which have proven to impact the culture and economy of the city. In doing so, it showcases what it can mean for a cemetery to become a monument that positively impacts the present and future of an area.
Cemeteries as Monuments
While visitor interest in Mount Moriah was first enabled by the notoriety of the people who are buried within the cemetery, its’ popularity is ultimately driven by the experiences that have been enabled throughout. Countless cemeteries across the world have far more numerous and notable figured interred in them, but they aren’t able to attract visitors in the same manner. In doing so, Mount Moriah has come to showcase what it can mean to turn a cemetery into a monument as well as the powerful economic and cultural impacts that doing so can represent for an entire city and region.
