Known as both Pioneer Cemetery and Baldwin City Cemetery, this Douglas County burial ground’s first interment was in 1858 on land not far from a then-still-active Santa Fe Trail. The sign at the entrance highlights the native wildflowers on the grounds. It is poignant that many of the markers bear flowers, too.
R.J. Barricklow’s white bronze marker shows a barely opened blossom, symbolizing the death of the very young.
Flowering Spurge.
Wild fringe leaf ruellia.
Wild blue sage.
Mary Frances Fry’s headstone shows a rose in full bloom. It’s stem has been snapped, symbolizing a life cut short.
Diana Staresinic-Deane 