Bay Area Cemeteries

I. The History of San Francisco's Cemeteries

San Francisco cemeteries enjoy a colorful if peripatetic past. Europeans had been dying in the 49 square-mile confines of city and county for a couple centuries by the time the thought occurred in the 1890s that cemeteries take up valuable space, space that could be used for, oh, golf courses. The state determined burying granddad in the backyard wasn't the best course (the practice leaves the odd body turning up in construction sites and Native American remains can be found throughout the area). Similarly instructive, the city's Board of Supervisors moved to move the city's 26 cemeteries south to San Mateo County. The town of Lawndale was within a day's carriage ride of the city so was deemed the place to locate. Mourners could follow a hearse to a cemetery for a burial and make it back to the city in time for dinner or the opera. What could be better?

Not that moving bodies from cemeteries was all that easy, mind. A couple groups sued over the move mandate. The result meant that not all the targeted cemeteries were cleared off until nearly midcentury, by which time Lawndale had changed its name to Colma, a tidy little necropolis that today, with a population of 1,500, counts dead to living denizens at a rate of 1,000 to 1. Colma's 17 cemeteries include a pet cemetery, whose owners claim it is the most visited cemetery in town.

Cemeteries left in San Francisco include the historical Mission Dolores, inactive, and the military cemetery at the Presidio, mostly full. The Neptune Society, which bought and restored the neoclassical Columbarium built in 1898 and used in association with the moved Odd Fellows cemetery, calls the building a cemetery and holds "meet your neighbor" gatherings for niche holders, that is, occupiers-in-waiting. Open to the public, the Columbarium, in Loraine Square, is as worthy a tourist stop as the pet cemetery at the Presidio, where Army types laid to rest faithful companions.

New York City notwithstanding, the San Francisco Bay Area stands for diversity, which can be seen in even the names of cemeteries, let alone their occupants, thus by nationality, such as Serbian Cemetery or Japanese Benevolent Society, or service group, such as Masonic or Oddfellow cemeteries, or religion, such as Catholic, Jewish or Druid.

Oh, and at last count: In San Francisco, it's cemeteries, two, golf courses, seven.

II. San Francisco Bay Area Cemeteries

III. Cemeteries in the East Bay

IV. Cemeteries to the North