Many travel to the Black Hills in South Dakota to see the famous memorials—Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse—and to enjoy the myriad of fun activities in the area.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Photo by Deborah Erickson
Crazy Horse Memorial
Photo by Deborah Erickson
If your Black Hills journy leads you to the town of Deadwood to try your luck on the “one-armed bandits,” you might consider a visit to the town’s Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota
Photo by Deborah Erickson
In the late 1800s, Deadwood resident George Ayres said, “The climate in the Black Hills is so damn healthy that you would have to kill a man to start a cemetery.” Given the bawdy nature of Deadwood at the time and its attraction to gunmen, gamblers, and other unsavory characters, a cemetery was soon needed.
Ingleside Cemetery was established in the town, but it was determined that the land could be better used for housing so the dead were moved onto Mount Moriah and re-interred. Many of the Ingleside graves were unmarked so the bodies were never transferred to the new graveyard. Apparently, it is not uncommon today for Deadwood residents to unearth human bones when digging in their gardens.
A hilltop view of Deadwood
Photo by Deborah Erickson
One of the cemetery’s unusual headstones
Photo by Deborah Erickson
Mount Moriah Cemetery is divided into several distinct sections. There is a potter’s field where unknowns were buried without headstones. Deadwood had a large Jewish community, so the cemetery has a Jewish section where many of the headstone inscriptions are written in Hebrew.
A plot labeled as a mass grave holds the remains of those killed when a lumber mill burned down. Mount Moriah also has a children’s section as many youngsters died during typhus, cholera and small pox outbreaks. There are also burial sections for veterans of the Civil War and the Indian Wars.
Grave marker for Wild Bill Hickok
Photo by Deborah Erickson
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One of the most famous “residents” of Mount Moriah Cemetery is Wild Bill Hickok who was shot in the back while playing poker in a Deadwood saloon. He made it a point never to sit with his back to the door, but this was the only chair available at the poker table. Unfortunately for Bill, it was a fatal choice. The hand he was holding—aces and eights—is known as the “dead man’s hand.”
Next to Wild Bill’s grave is a plain marker for Martha Jane Canary—aka Calamity Jane—who alleged that she was married to Wild Bill, but that claim has been disputed. As the story goes, those who planned her funeral in 1903 later stated that Wild Bill Hickok had “absolutely no use” for Jane while he was alive, so they decided to play a posthumous joke on him by giving her an eternal resting place by his side.
Graves amidst a pine forest
Photo by Deborah Erickson
Deadwood’s Mount Moriah Cemetery is more than just a graveyard. A walk through the pine forested landscape and down the gravel roads is a window into a time past, viewed through the stories of countless graves. However, please remember that Mount Moriah Cemetery is first and foremost a sacred place and should be treated with respect.
There is a small visitor center at the cemetery’s entrance where a nominal entrance fee ($2 cash only) is requested. A printed guide to grave locations in cemetery is included.
Photo by Deborah Erickson
Map of Deadwood and Mount Moriah Cemetery
