Entry No. 81 — the Denver file — filed under: dark history

John Chivington's Grave at Fairmount Cemetery

“The stone bears his name and not one word about what he did”

Fairmount is Denver's beautiful Victorian garden cemetery — heritage roses, a Gothic chapel, pioneer notables. Almost no one wandering it knows that under a plain gray headstone lies Col. John Chivington, the man who ordered the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre, where peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho — an estimated 70 to 600 people, most of them women and children — were slaughtered and mutilated. A Congressional investigation condemned him in the harshest terms and ended his career, but he was never court-martialed and died a free man in 1894. The stone bears his name and not one word about what he did; you have to bring that history with you.

The move: Wander Fairmount's older Victorian sections for the landscaping and pioneer headstones, then deliberately seek out Chivington's plain marker and sit with the gap between Denver's pretty pioneer mythology and what actually happened at Sand Creek.

📍 Before you go Fairmount sits at Quebec and Alameda in east Denver; the main entrance and the historic Gate Lodge are near that corner, and on-site parking is ample and free. The grave is genuinely hard to find on your own — it's a plain gray headstone in the older, western Victorian section, with no marker explaining who he was — so it's worth stopping at the office for the exact lot, or noting the Find a Grave location beforehand. Come in daylight; this is an active cemetery, so move quietly and steer clear of any services. Pair the visit with the Gothic Ivy Chapel and the heritage rose gardens. Transit is thin out here; driving or a rideshare is easiest.

• 📍 Montclair / East Denver
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Low-key
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: Fairmount Cemetery, 430 S Quebec St, Denver, CO 80247; Chivington is interred under a gray headstone in the older section (Find a Grave memorial #6926943) — call the cemetery office for the exact lot

Hours: Fairmount Cemetery grounds open daily during daylight hours (roughly 8am-5pm; gates close at dusk); office weekdays. It's an active cemetery — be quiet and respectful, especially near services.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia · denvergazette.com

last checked: 2026-06-07