Generations of  telling epitaphs are chiseled into the headstones at Whiskeytown Cemetery located just a few miles north of Redding, California. Families, friends and loved ones continue to display their devotion with ornate and historical grave markings, and visitors add the historical cemetery to their list of tourist destinations.

The town of Whiskeytown, which originally housed the cemetery, is now under the waters of Whiskeytown lake due to the creation of the Whiskeytown Dam.  In 1963, the cemetery, the final resting place for residents and wanderers, including gold miners and dam construction workers, was relocated to its current location, nestled among the forest woods within the Whiskeytown National Park.  

Sadly, In July of 2018, the Whiskeytown Cemetery was decimated by the Carr fire. Ironically before the fire, volunteers had planned to clean and pretty up the area in September, but now their efforts are focused  towards rebuilding. See post burn video from abc10.com here.

Special note: The Alameda County Fire Department, one of a number of out-of-town firefighting units that battled the Carr fire, came across the cemetery's American flag that had survived. Respectfully, the unit gathered together and lowered the flag to half-mast in honor of the firefighters who had lost their lives in the Carr mega fire. Video.

Now, as the Whiskeytown Cemetery slowly comes back to life, we continue to salute those who came and left before us.