Asahel and Sarah Smith are the founders of Pine Gulch cemetery – having carved it from their 160-acre homestead. But their family’s American story began in the 1600s when thousands of colonists were being sent to American by England – Jamestown, VA was founded as the first permanent English settlement (1607), the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth (1620) and North America was home to over 600 tribal nations. A few hundred years (yes, really) after their families settled in the east coast colonies, Asahel and Sarah met, married and started their family in the Midwest.

After 1 war, 6 children and many miles they planted themselves on a homestead in the area we now call Pine Junction. It was still early days in the area’s domestication: Colorado had just become a state, the South Platte line snaked through Platte Canon and over Kenosha Pass and Pine Grove hadn’t yet been founded. Sadly, tragedy struck when their son Samuel died at only 8 years old, likely as part of a diphtheria outbreak that hit the foothills. They buried him on their property, in a peaceful spot under the pines with a pure white marble headstone that symbolized the purity of his young life. Over the next few years other children and neighbors joined the boy and eventually Asahel and Sarah deeded 1.5 acres of their homestead to become the Pine Grove Cemetery Association.  A short time later Sarah joined her son under the pines and their legacy continues on today.