Silver Terrace Cemeteries --Three Historic Nevada Cities: Carson City, Reno and Virginia City--A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary

[graphic] Three Historic Nevada Cities Carson City, Reno, Virginia City A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary

View of Cemetery in 1940
Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Buildings Survey, Reproduction Number HABS, NEV,15-VIRG,35-3

The Silver Terrace Cemeteries are a series of terraces dramatically located on the steep, windswept hillside of Virginia City. As this booming mining camp became a more permanent settlement, the need arose to establish a cemetery. Beginning in the 1860s, a wide variety of fraternal, civic and religious groups established burial yards on the hillside including the Masons, Pacific Coast Pioneers, Knights of Pythias, Firemen, Wilson and Brown, Improved Order of Redmen, Roman Catholic, and the city and county. Nearly every plot is fenced or bordered, a typical practice of the Victorian period. The characteristic features of this burial place reflect the breadth of styles and designs popular during its long history.

[photo] The cemetery is located on a steep hillside
Photo by Terri McBride, courtesy of Nevada State Historic Preservation Office

Grave markers range in materials from wood to metal to cut stone. The inscriptions on the markers give silent testimony to the social and economic fabric of Virginia City. The majority date to before 1920. Very few of the adults buried in these cemeteries were born in Nevada. The birthplaces noted throughout the grounds provide a glimpse of the scope of immigration and the makeup of the settlement that supported the Comstock mining industry. The historic significance of the cemeteries enabled them to qualify for a Save America's Treasures grant through the National Park Service. Restoration is under way.

The Silver Terrace Cemeteries are located at the end of North E St., northeast of the C St. business district in Virginia City. The cemeteries are open to the public daily, but close at dusk.

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