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April 30, 2020

Carmel Valley - Pioneer Cemetery

Nearly all those who have driven westbound on Hiway 56 have not noticed that tucked on a hillside behind the St. Terese of Carmel Catholic Church lies a little cemetery established by the Sisters of Mercy.

On this May Gray morning I decided to check it out.  A prefect place to maintain Social Distancing requirements.

Two nuns came to then McGonigle Valley to provide nursing care to the McGonigle family.  The cemetery resides on a part of the 1000 acres given to the nuns as part of their Sisters of Mercy mission.  Their mission founded what is now Mercy Hospital in San Diego.

To raise money to support their hospital they sold off all but 10 acres of their land holdings.  That land, including the cemetery, is now St. Therese of Carmel and the Norte Dame Academy.

To gain entrance to the cemetery pass through the arch on the west side of the church.  The Stations of the Cross are beyond the arch.


At station 8 is an iron gate at the top of the stairway.  Two sets of stairs are provided on the hillside to the entrance.
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The cemetery is divided with the Catholic sites on the west and the Protestant sites on the east.  There are just a few markers on the overgrown berm of the Protestant graves.

A cement marker with an illegible metal plate attached is the grave of Miles and Virginia Standish.  Legend is he was a descendant of Miles Standish, named as captain of the Plymouth in 1621.

There are 11 graves recorded on the Protestant side with one unknown grave.

The Catholic side is better maintained with 34 marked sites.  There are more recent grave sites that are more frequently visited.
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Only these 45 graves are marked of the known 83 burials recorded.  There may be over 100 burials performed here.  The original wooden crosses were destroyed by a wildfire.  The known graves are now marked with plain white crosses. 

The pepper trees offer shade and an inviting place to wander. 


The Rangel couple are buried one above the other, rather than side-to-side. 


A visitor of Roy Gutierrez looks to have shared a beer with him.  

Social distancing was pretty easy.  I never saw another person and only the traffic on Hiway 56 for company.

I hope you were able to get out for a bit today too.  Above all Stay Safe!
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8 comments:

  1. Nice of you to bring this unique cemetery to our attention. Never heard of religious separation in a cemetery but probably common.

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    1. The cemetery is an nearly forgotten part of San Diego history. I too had not heard of religious separation and did not find any reference to it when trying to learn more of the cemetery history.

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  2. Always fascinating to wander through old cemeteries. It's sad that so many of the markers were lost and there are so many unknowns. Still, a beautiful and peaceful spot.

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    1. It is a peaceful spot, altho adjacent to the freeway. Lots of history is stored and lost in the old Pioneer Cemeteries.

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  3. It is good to get out and think about other times. We are fortunate to live in a good place.

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    1. We've driven past the old cemetery a 100 times before we noticed it, just on the north side of the hiway. It was a safe quiet spot to escape cabin fever and contemplate previous times.

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  4. Such a sweet little cemetery.

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    1. It's located amidst an upper end residential area, I'm glad it has been preserved, despite so much lost history.

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