Entry No. 31 — the Grand Junction file — filed under: cemetery
Crested Butte Cemetery
On the north edge of town along Gothic Road, Crested Butte's Victorian-era cemetery holds the evidence of a brutal frontier chapter. The left half of the grounds is dominated by the mass grave of 59 miners — many of them adolescents — killed in the Jokerville Mine explosion of January 24, 1884, one of the deadliest mining disasters in the American West. A hand-forged steel fence added in 2017 encloses the site, its cutouts depicting a pick and shovel. Surrounding plots bear Croatian, Italian, and Slavic surnames — Kochevar, Yaklich, Tezak — on markers ranging from weathered wooden crosses to a small marble lamb. The non-denominational Betty Spehar Chapel, built in the 1960s from salvaged elements of an 1890 church, anchors the grounds beneath the looming profile of Mt. Crested Butte.
The move: Walk the left-side historic rows together and read the immigrant surnames and ages aloud. The 1884 mass grave, with its hand-forged fence and roll-call stone, makes for a quietly heavy shared moment — then grab coffee in town and decompress.
📍 Before you go Free and always open; no fees, no booking. Gothic Road is paved to this point year-round, so the cemetery itself is accessible even in winter — though expect deep snow off-path from November through April. The Betty Spehar Chapel is open summers only. Crested Butte is roughly 2.5–3 hours from Grand Junction via US-50 and CO-135 through Gunnison. Cell service is spotty; download an offline map. Combine with a walk through Crested Butte's historic district, which is two blocks away.
- 📍 Crested Butte
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: Gothic Road, approximately 0.25 miles north of downtown Crested Butte, CO 81224
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4
last checked: 2026-06-11