DAR surveys pioneer cemetery in South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have been working in the historic pioneer cemetery in Al Tahoe, surveying original boundaries and unmarked grave sites dating back to the late 1800s.

Long before there was a South Lake Tahoe, the town of Rowlands rested on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe in the area of the current Bellevue and Lakeview Avenues.

Thomas Rowland built the cemetery for the small community several hundred feet away from the town that bore his name.

The pioneer cemetery now on Alameda Avenue is just a small portion of the original cemetary.

DAR's members-at-large and prospective organizing members are forming in South Lake Tahoe, and as part of their annual Day of Service on October 11 spent five hours at the cemetery working on their project.

According to Organizing Regent Sally Holcombe, the original cemetery boundaries are approximately 30 degrees off of the current street grid. Large portions of the cemetery are under Alameda Avenue and underneath two adjacent homes and there are 12 remaining grave markers and 37 known burials in the cemetery.

As DAR probed and walked every inch of the cemetery, they were able to mark 97 possible grave sites with wooden stakes. These stakes were numbered and plotted on a graph. With the assistance of Lee Vestal from the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, the cemetery was also canvassed with a metal detector.

Mr. Vestal’s data will be coordinated with the stake markers, said Holcombe.

“Even if only half of the stakes turn out to mark actual grave sites, that’s more than what we currently know about,” said Vestal.

The DAR local chapter’s ultimate goal is to see the cemetery restored as a local historic site.

The DAR annual Day of Service marks the day, October 11, 1890, that the group was founded in Washington, DC. All chapters everywhere observe this annual commemoration with some form of community service.

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