About

Save the Graves was conceived in 2019 by a partnership between the leadership of Arts & Culture El Dorado, Gold Bug Park, El Dorado County Cemetery Advisory Committee, El Dorado County Cemetery Administration and the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce. In 2023, Save the Graves incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Save the Graves funds big projects and leads smaller ones with volunteers. We tell the stories buried in our cemeteries during tours, on interpretive signage and on stage. We make cemeteries a place where recent arrivals rub elbows with historic families.

Each fall, Save the Graves celebrates notable characters in local history in an ambitious, day-long living history production staged in the county’s only Victorian Garden Cemetery. Equal parts education and entertainment, the production funds our work throughout the year, while raising awareness of the beauty of these places and their importance as tangible links to the past. 2024 marked the fifth anniversary of our namesake event. Links to past events can be found on our Events page.