19th Leadville Jewish Cemetery Clean Up This Weekend

B’nai B’rith Denver‘s 19th annual Leadville Jewish Cemetery Cleanup is this coming Sunday, June 28 — with activities all weekend.

• Camping Friday and Saturday nights – Silver Dollar Campground at Turquoise Lake (campsites 40, 41, 42 and 43).
• Leadville’s inaugural BBQ & Brew Festival – Friday and Saturday.
• Sunday – Jewish Cemetery cleanup begins at 9:00 a.m.  (Breakfast and lunch provided to all volunteers.)

All the information you need can be found here on the B’nai B’rith Denver Leadville Cleanup page.

Some background on Leadville and the cemetery, from the B’nai B’rith Denver website:

Leadville, Colorado, from the late 1870s through the First World War and on deep into the 20^th Century developed as one of the best examples of a classic western American mining boomtown.  During its glory days of gold and silver strikes, Leadville could have stood as a prototypic movie set populated by the full range of remarkable western caricatures.  Leadville’s culture and commerce were quickly absorbed into the rapidly growing structure of America’s industrial economy, supplying not just precious metals but also, ultimately, metals for the production of steel and other fundamental uses.

Amongst the many groups of people attracted to the mine fields in the high Rockies was an eclectic sample of then recent Jewish immigrants.  Representing all strata of society from mine owners and important merchants to itinerant laborers and trades people, they and their fellow pioneers made new lives for themselves and their families while contributing to America’s evolving preeminence.  It is to their memory that Temple Israel Foundation is dedicated.

The Temple Israel Foundation was incorporated in April, 1987, “to acquire, historically rehabilitate, and maintain” the Temple Israel building and to research the history of the Jewish community in Leadville as a whole without losing sight of the particulars of individual lives.  In October, 1992, the Foundation purchased the Temple Israel building.  On June 18, 1993, the Foundation was awarded title to Leadville’s Hebrew Cemetery by the District Court.  This action rejoined in ownership both parcels originally held by Congregation Israel and expanded the mandate of the Foundation to include the restoration and maintenance of both properties.  The Hebrew Cemetery, which is separate from the temple site, has benefited from several years of increasing efforts from B’nai B’rith Denver volunteers and from several hundred individuals and has been consecrated and reopened for burials.