Sacramento Old City Cemetery Committee

06/07/2026

Our next tour is Drugs in the Old West, a fun and informative tour about drugs in the Victorian era and early 20th Century; Sacramento did have o***m dens and a criminal drug underworld that we'll delve into. But most people got their drugs legally, from a doctor or pharmacist. And perhaps unwittingly from unregulated "patent medicines", which might contain alcohol and substances like chloroform, morphine, cannabis, etc.

Bring your umbrella, hat & sunscreen if you got 'em. It will be hot.

The Sacramento cop in the photo is showing off some confiscated o***m pipes.

06/06/2026

Some more RR employees from today's tour. Scroll down for link. Arthur Real was an Engineer killed in 1899 when his locomotive jumped the track taking a curve at high speed near Reno. Charles Congdon was an Engineer who died in a trainwreck near Marysville in 1910. Clarence Whitehouse was a machinist in the Central Pacific RR shops who died of consumption (tb).

06/06/2026

Tickets still available for our 'Workin' on the Railroad' Tour!

Sacramento was a company town, and that company was the Central Pacific (later Southern Pacific). We have the "Octopus" bigwigs like Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, and upper management types. We also have contractors and suppliers, detectives, people who worked at the railroad shops, an

05/30/2026

From today's Boss of the Boneyard tour: D.J. Mannix was a plastering contractor active in Democratic Party politics. He was accused of mismanagement as city street superintendent in 1906, and at the end of his term was not re-appointed. He became superintendent of city cemeteries in 1910. He soon came under fire because caretakers, hired by a private contract, refused to allow poor families to maintain their relatives' gravesites, instead insisting they pay a fee or let the graves go unmaintained. Trustee Ed Carragher was outraged when when a constituent appealed to him for assistance in maintaining their family plot. The offending contractor was soon unemployed, as was Superintendent Mannix!

05/23/2026

From our Workin' on the Railroad Tour: We have found 35 RR engineers in the cemetery, and 30 of those died while on the job!
Seen here is the plot of Bonus Lightner, a long-time RR engineer and leader of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Although only a boy during the Civil War, in 1864 he enlisted in the Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Civil War and was taken prisoner in his first battle. During his nearly 40-year service with the railroads, he had been in but one wreck, with a broken ankle disabling him for 9 months.
His two young nephews were not to be so lucky...
In 1892, the first burial in this plot, and probably why it was purchased then, was Edgar Griffey, a 25-year-old engineer who jumped from an impending head-on collision between two locomotives and broke his neck in Davisville (now Davis). In 1898, Edwin Lightner, a 23-year-old fireman, was on a train near Colfax that jumped the track and fell down a ravine, killing him and Engineer Don Z. Hackett, who is also buried in the cemetery, but in a different plot.

05/22/2026

Kids Tour has been moved to August 15 @ 4:00pm - 5:30pm!

Who says history has to be boring? Come hear tales of floods, fires, mayhem and the amazing accomplishments of the early residents of Sacramento. The kicker is that all of these stories are all true and taken from the residents of the Historic City Cemetery. Come see why truth is stranger than ficti

05/22/2026

Thank you to all those who came to the Victorian Fun Faire! It was a beautiful day (with just a hint of wind) and the costumes were fun. Happy to see so many participate in the scavenger hunt and just have a calm and enjoyable picnic in the cemetery.

05/19/2026

Possible scam alert:
If you see any comments on any of our events about vendor space, this is a scam. We do not do not advertise vendor space in comments. We would have an official facebook call out or contact individuals personally. Rarely do we have any events with vendors.

05/19/2026

From June 6th's Workin' On the Railroad tour:
Richard Beskeen worked in the Southern Pacific Car Repair shops. On May 9, 1904, he was instantly killed in the railroad yard just before the noon hour. He was sitting on the axle of an oil car, screwing up some bolts. A switch engine was moving some cars on the track next to the one under which Beskeen was working. A low car hit a block of wood and derailed. The small block of wood was standing on end beside the track and caught on the journal box. The block acted as a lever and threw the rear wheels of the car off the track. The car hit the car under which he was working, knocking it off the stands upon which it had been placed, and dragging him to death beneath the wheels. Beskeen’s neck was broken. His head, when he was found, lay beside the track, and his legs were about the axle on which he had been sitting. There were no eyewitnesses.
The photos are from the Coroner's Inquest.

05/17/2026

From the Bosses of the Boneyard tour: Margaret Crocker, known as "Lady Bountiful" for her philanthropic efforts. Among other things, the Bell Conservatory (where Selland's is today!) was constructed under her direction in 1881, as she wished to supply flowers for the nearby cemetery. Eugene Geisreiter ran it for almost 50 years, his son Bert growing up on the site. Bert ran it from 1928-1956 and became Mayor of Sacramento 1950-51. During his brief tenure he facilitated the purchase of Paradise Beach. After the Conservatory, it was a Safeway, then ugly offices before Selland's arrival.