Mount Olivet Cemetery

 Mount Olivet is a cemetery is Salt Lake City, Utah. It was established in 1874 by an act of the U.S. Congress. The first use of the cemetery was in 1877. It was originally 20 acres was part of Camp Douglas. It has since expanded is is currently approximately 80 acres.

One of the fun thing about this cemetery is that is has a herd of resident deer that like to hang out here. Plus a lot of older headstones and mausoleums. We really didn’t have anything in particular we were looking for today, other than the cemetery deer. So, we just kind of wandered aimlessly.

Our first quick trip and we found the deer hanging out.

It really is kind of neat to see, but also a little weird.

A bunch of them up on the hill.

We didn’t have a lot of time today, so we decided we would come back soon.

Our second trip just 2 weeks later was also a success with the deer herd.

Had to wait for deer crossing.

Being extra cautious in case more decide to cross.

There some more go.

Hello cuteys!

They don’t appear to be as skittish as most deer.

Did you know deer squat to go potty? I only learned that not to long ago on a trip down to Bryce Canyon where I noticed it for the first time, and well here for the 2nd time.

Neat old grave markers.

Neat mausoleums.

Closer.

This is a cool one.

The cemetery.

Found a masonic square and compass.

More grave markers.

Old grave marker. I can’t quite make out the date.

Another old one. I think I can make out 1908.

Another old one.

More grave markers and a couple of Canada geese.

Another old one.

1903 and 1907. These ones help up pretty well, or may have been restored.

1904.

The geese again.

More grave markers.

Emma Willard Lay “My Emmie” Adored wife and mother. August 1904.

Now that sounds like a husband that truly loved his wife. I particularly like the angel as well.

Little closer.

More grave markers.

Cute cherub.

This is my favorite grave marker of the day.

No offence intended, but this made me think of a favorite except of a book I recently read:

“One grave in every graveyard belongs to the ghouls. Wander any graveyard long enough and you will find it - water-stained and bulging, with cracked or broken stone, scraggly grass or rank weeds about it, and a feeling, when you reach it, of abandonment. It may be colder than the other gravestones, too, and the name on the stone is all too often impossible to read. If there is a statue on the grave, it will be headless or so scabbed with fungus and lichens as to look like a fungus itself. If one grave in the graveyard looks like a target for petty vandals, that is the ghoul-gate. If the grave makes you want to be somewhere else, that is the ghoul-gate.
There was one in Bod's graveyard.
There is one in every graveyard.”

- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Again.

D.F. Connelly. Born in Newark, Ohio Jan. 8, 1838; Died July 10, 1884.

I think that this might be the oldest one we found today.

From the side.

Another tall marker.

I like the appearance of a shroud.

A big marker.

A Celtic looking cross.

More deer.

A particularly gothic looking mausoleum.

You know, for how old and kind of spooky looking this particular cemetery is, I am kind of surprised that I do not know of any ghost stories or even urban legends here. Quite unlike the not too far from here Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Notable burials:

Ina Clair: Actress.
Charles Eberhard Salomon: Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General.
Frederick Salomon: Civil War Union Brigadier General.
John Smith: Actor.
John Witcher: Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General

Plus several governors, and other politicians.

Well, I really enjoyed our random cemetery visit today. This is a neat old cemetery with a lot of neat grave markers and mausoleums. Plus the resident herd of deer is kind of fun.