Entry No. 45 — the Denver file — filed under: cemetery
Riverside Cemetery History & Mystery Tours
Denver's oldest cemetery (1876) sits forgotten on 77 acres of dry, overgrown ground in Globeville — National Register-listed, yet on the state's most-endangered-places list, which tells you how few people visit. Beneath the leaning tombstones: Colorado's first governor, Augusta Tabor, Barney Ford, and a miner whose headstone is a hand-carved limestone replica of a mining cabin. The Fairmount Heritage Foundation runs the city's only nighttime cemetery tours plus free daytime walks — history and legend, by lamplight. Most locals don't even know it exists.
The move: Book the evening History & Mystery tour together — you walk the dark grounds hearing the Lester Drake and Jones Mausoleum stories — or do the free Sunday daytime walk if you want it lower-key and lingering.
📍 Before you go Don't aim for the old Brighton Blvd main gate — it was relocated, and the current entrance sits on the cemetery's north side, reached by turning onto York Street and following it about a quarter-mile to the gate. This is open, sun-exposed prairie in an isolated industrial-residential pocket of Globeville, so plan to drive rather than walk, wear real shoes, and tread quietly: it's still a fragile, active historic burial ground. Evening tours cluster in fall and tend to sell out, so reserve well ahead; daytime walks run seasonally — check ahead. Pair it with RiNo's breweries just south or a show at nearby Globe Hall.
- 📍 Globeville
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 5201 Brighton Blvd, Denver, CO 80216 (Globeville; entrance off Brighton Blvd — tours via Fairmount Heritage Foundation)
Hours: Grounds open daytime; guided tours are scheduled events (free Sunday daytime tours seasonally; History & Mystery / evening tours cluster around fall/October). Check Fairmount Heritage Foundation + Eventbrite for current dates and tickets — sells out.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Atlas Obscura · Westword · eventbrite.com · fairmountheritagefoundation.org
last checked: 2026-06-07