Entry No. 6 — the Santa Cruz file — filed under: cemetery

Evergreen Cemetery

One of California's oldest public cemeteries (burials from the 1850s), Evergreen fell into ruin after the catastrophic Christmas flood of 1955 before volunteers began restoring it in 1973 — it's now run by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and has a long-standing reputation as haunted, with a dedicated Chinese burial section (traditional funerals once featured firecrackers and an on-site cooking oven) marked by a memorial gate built in 2014.

The move: Go on a Sunday afternoon for MAH's monthly 'Rite Life' writing workshop held literally among the headstones (facilitated by local poet Gabriel Kittle-Cervine, 1-3pm), or just wander the Civil War, Freemason, and Chinese sections and read the eight generations of Santa Cruz history stacked into eight acres.

📍 Santa Cruz (Evergreen/Beach Hill area)
💸 $$
⚡ Up for anything
🌗 Indoors

Where: 261 Evergreen St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.

#cemetery #ghost lore #1850s history #flood aftermath #writing workshop

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Wikipedia · santacruzmah.org

last checked: 2026-07-20