Photos & Text by Kimberly Gunning
The Capitol Hill neighborhood is home to beautiful Victorian-style houses, independent coffee shops and cafes, the governor’s mansion, and a plethora of bike riders and runners down the tree-lined, one-way streets. It is my absolute favorite neighborhood I have yet to come across in Denver, and Cheesman Park has helped to make it that way.
Cheesman Park on 8th Avenue in Denver, Colo.
On any given day – rain, snow, sleet or sun – you can find runners conquering the weather to train. It’s no wonder Denver was ranked No. 1 for “America’s Fittest Cities” by Travel & Leisure (http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-fittest-cities/1).
When the weather is pleasant, park visitors can be found performing yoga, sitting on a bench playing guitar, throwing around a football and taking part in a volleyball game, among other activities. The Colorado AIDS Walk is held at Cheesman Park each August, and weddings and dance lessons are often held at the park’s pavilion. (http://www.aidswalkcolorado.org/aids_walk_colorado/index.html)
Cheesman Park is known to many city dwellers as the “gay friendly” park. Located on 8th Avenue, on Capitol Hill’s boarder, it is a highly populated area for homosexuals, but also a trendy, individualistic neighborhood for college-aged residents and young professionals. It is an area of variety and culture, and is not short of a little history as well.
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What not all park goers know when visiting Cheesman Park, or neighboring Congress Park and the Denver Botanic Garden, is that there are an estimated 5,000 other bodies there with them. According to DenverGov.org, the land was used as Denver’s first cemetery – City Cemetery – until 1892.
Based on information from LeonardLeonard.com, Colorado U.S. Senator Henry pushed congress to allow the land to be changed into a park. Friends and relatives were given 90 days to remove their loved ones from their burial ground. Many of the bodies that had not been removed by the deadline were then excavated by workers hired by the city. Even after, many were rumored to be left behind due to unmarked graves.
Websites including: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-cheesmanpark.html and http://www.prairieghosts.com/cheesman.html, as well as locals, tell the tales of Cheesman Park’s haunts. It is said that grave outlines can be seen throughout the park at dusk and many of the buildings along the outside of the park are haunted by spirits once (or still) buried there.
Whatever the case, Cheesman Park has history. It is a fantastic park to relax in and read a good book or to go for a run at. In the best neighborhood of Denver, Cheesman tells a story of the past, and becomes a part of visitors’ tales today.
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