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Best of 2001: Best Unexpected Graveyard

Pioneer Park/Calvary Cemetery
West Washington and Randolph Street,
Mission Hills

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Some picnics are spoiled by ants or drizzly weather. But festivities at this park, located about a mile from Old Town, can sour when the search for a perfect picnic spot yields several dozen tombstones. Visible to anyone walking the length of the ten-acre park, most headstones are damaged and lying on the ground sideways or upside-down. The engravings, however, can be read by anyone curious about the folks who remain buried at this former cemetery. In 1873, the land was purchased and named Calvary Cemetery, a privately owned and operated graveyard. After its occupancy limit was reached, visitations dropped off, the owners migrated from San Diego, and caretaking was abandoned altogether in the 1930s. The city bought the land and converted the area into a park in the 1960s. However, their budget did not allow for the cost of digging up and relocating the nearly 2000 residents interred six feet beneath the park grass. No official sign declares this history, no souvenir stands or tour buses make it evident, and few contemporary maps allude to the headstones, coffins, and corpses.

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Pioneer Park/Calvary Cemetery
West Washington and Randolph Street,
Mission Hills

Sponsored
Sponsored

Some picnics are spoiled by ants or drizzly weather. But festivities at this park, located about a mile from Old Town, can sour when the search for a perfect picnic spot yields several dozen tombstones. Visible to anyone walking the length of the ten-acre park, most headstones are damaged and lying on the ground sideways or upside-down. The engravings, however, can be read by anyone curious about the folks who remain buried at this former cemetery. In 1873, the land was purchased and named Calvary Cemetery, a privately owned and operated graveyard. After its occupancy limit was reached, visitations dropped off, the owners migrated from San Diego, and caretaking was abandoned altogether in the 1930s. The city bought the land and converted the area into a park in the 1960s. However, their budget did not allow for the cost of digging up and relocating the nearly 2000 residents interred six feet beneath the park grass. No official sign declares this history, no souvenir stands or tour buses make it evident, and few contemporary maps allude to the headstones, coffins, and corpses.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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