Colma is located about 20 miles south of San Francisco. It is known as “The City of the Silent” or “City of Souls” as it has the greatest concentration of cemeteries in the area. This is because in the early part of the twentieth century, the good people of San Francisco found themselves in a real-estate crisis. Remember, in 1849 there was a little thing called the Gold Rush which made the little town of Yerba Buena the most popular travel destination in the country. Increasing property values made all that empty space reserved for cemeteries very inviting to ambitious real estate developers. After all, dead people don't pay rent. In 1900, San Francisco passed an ordinance banning the construction of any more cemeteries within the city limits. Then, in 1912, they added insult to injury and forcibly relocated the inhabitants of its existing cemeteries to its less-prestigious neighbor to the south, Colma, known then as Lawndale. They told people it was for health reasons, but I think we can safely say that was a fib.
Today, there are only two cemeteries remaining within the borders of the city and county of San Francisco: the San Francisco National Cemetery, located in the Presidio, and Mission Dolores. Apparently, they missed a few people in the move, though. During the renovation of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, workers stumbled across some Gold-Rush era graves that had been left behind. Turns out this ground was once a potter's field for the City of San Francisco. It was called City Cemetery, or Golden Gate Cemetery. According to this fascinating article, there may still be some remains at the site. This is a very interesting article, I highly recommend reading it. (After you're done with my blog, of course.) It gives the locations of the defunct cemeteries from which came the future residents of Colma.
The current population of Colma is listed as approximately 1600 (living) and over 1.5 million (deceased). There are 16 cemeteries located in Colma, among them Cypress Lawn, Holy Cross, Hills of Eternity, Woodlawn and numerous ethnic and faith-specific burial grounds. Many famous folk call Colma their final resting place: William Randolph Hearst, Joe DiMaggio, Wyatt Earp, Charles De Young, William Henry Crocker, Abigail Folger, Bill Graham and that most eccentric of San Francisco characters, Emperor Norton. Colma has even achieved pop culture status. It is the subject of a 2004 documentary, A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco’s Lost Cemeteries and Colma, the Musical (2006).
I plan to visit many of these cemeteries over the next few months, but I begin my sojourn through the City of the Dead by visiting the only cemetery dedicated to our dearly departed animal companions.
Pet's Rest is a small cemetery. When you enter, the first thing you see is this brightly-colored mural depicting the passage of our pets to the afterlife. I like the St. Bernard Dog leading the way.
Not much in symbolism here. The gravesites reflect the preferences of the bereaved owners. What affected me was the devotion to the animals.
The markers ranged from the elaborate to the very simple.
There was quite a lot of lovely statuary.
Here's St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. No pet cemetery would be complete without him.
Broken column!
Every type of pet is welcome here.
Where there is one...
There is always the other.
This headstone literally reduced me to tears.
I stood in the cemetery crying like a baby. I never get this emotional in the human cemeteries I visit. I wonder what that says about me?
