My grandmother and great aunt were cemetery walkers. Some of my earliest childhood memories are picnicking in cemeteries along Eastern Kansas plains. I remember my grandmother would always tell the joke, "I went to the cemetery and asked the Smith's what they were having for dinner. They said...nothing at all."

Hiking around cemeteries may sound macabre or morbid to some, but for us it was the history of lives gone past and the art embellishing their graves that enthralled us.

My sister and I decided to take up this tradition and recently visited the Riverside Cemetery in Denver. Founded in 1876, this is the oldest operating cemetery in Denver. In its heyday the cemetery use to be quite lavish sitting next to the South Platte River with green lawns, trees, flowers and shrubs. Now it is in the middle of an industrial park right next to the railroad tracks where we had to wait for the longest and slowest coal train to pass by before we could drive through the gates. The cemetery is no longer being watered or regularly maintained and was vandalized a few years ago, which is sad considering the wealth of Colorado history that is beneath its grounds and the art above. The cemetery statuary is amazing from a white, life-sized horse on top of a 6-foot pedestal to a hand-carved replica of a little boy's dog.

I was so intrigued by this forgotten resting place, afterwards I went to the Highlands Ranch Library and checked out the book, Denver's Riverside Cemetery, Where the History Lies, by Annette Student. I had no idea Denver had such a colorful past and cast of characters who now reside at Riverside.

For those interested I wrote a brief article about the cemetery that is posted at www.allusallthetime.com/tombs.html as well as a few photos of some of the statues.

I highly recommend both the book and a visit to Riverside Cemetery, 5201 Brighton Blvd Denver, CO 80216.