Silveyville Cemetery, located right across the street from the fairgrounds in Dixon, is just so amazing! It is obvious even from the road that an extraordinary amount of respect and care goes into maintaining its grounds.
As Mike and I walked the cemetery, I think I figured out why this cemetery is in such pristine condition: though Dixon was originally a town that provided for the gold miners of the Sacramento valley, its people remained long after the gold ran out. Many descendants of the town's original inhabitants live in Dixon today. This city cemetery is really a "family cemetery". In fact, as one drive through town to get to this cemetery, one gets the feeling that Dixon is still a family town (despite the Super Walmart that sits off the highway).
The ornate gravestones throughout the cemetery gave me the impression that Dixon's early settlers walked away with their fair share of gold. And as you can see in this picture, the Masonic portion of the cemetery is divided into many family plots. Yes, the people buried here were very much loved by their families and their community.
Wives and mothers, like Mrs. Frances Mayes (nee Hood), were admired in life, and remembered in death.
And hard working immigrant farmers, like Salvador Salaberry and his family, chose Dixon as their final home. Their arduous labor helped create the thriving agriculture that exists in this community today.
As Mike and I walked the cemetery, I think I figured out why this cemetery is in such pristine condition: though Dixon was originally a town that provided for the gold miners of the Sacramento valley, its people remained long after the gold ran out. Many descendants of the town's original inhabitants live in Dixon today. This city cemetery is really a "family cemetery". In fact, as one drive through town to get to this cemetery, one gets the feeling that Dixon is still a family town (despite the Super Walmart that sits off the highway).
The ornate gravestones throughout the cemetery gave me the impression that Dixon's early settlers walked away with their fair share of gold. And as you can see in this picture, the Masonic portion of the cemetery is divided into many family plots. Yes, the people buried here were very much loved by their families and their community.
People like The Reverend Daniel King, minister of the Dixon Baptist Church from 1857 until his death, were cherished by the townspeople. "This venerable servant of God was thus the leader of this church for more than twenty years, and was an example to them in faith, in preseverence, in well-doing, in sacrificing for Christ and his cause." - From "A History of Solano County, by J. P. Munro-Fraser, 1879."
Wives and mothers, like Mrs. Frances Mayes (nee Hood), were admired in life, and remembered in death.
"Not here, but risen; oh, angel song,
Still falling soft on hearts that weep!
This is the dead whose ashes long
Her Master's messengers shall keep,
Safe in Earth's last undreaming sleep.
But she who wore this mortal guise
Has fled beyond our tearful sight;
Joyful and strong, serene and wise,
She lives upon the hills of light,
And waits us on that heavenly height."
The people here live on in the hearts of the many who remember them.
"Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow."
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow."
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