Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainGrand Junction's oldest cemetery holds the graves of city founders, Civil War soldiers, and is the site of ghost investigation tours run by Western Slope Paranormal
2415 Patterson Rd, Grand Junction, CO 81505
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public cemetery; Western Slope Paranormal ghost investigation tours are separately ticketed — see their listings
Access
Limited Access
Mesa-top cemetery with some uneven ground among older grave sections
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1882 · Oldest Cemetery in Grand Junction · City Founder George A. Crawford Burial Site · Mesa County Civil War Veteran Burials · Mesa County Pioneer Settlement History
Grand Junction was founded in 1882 at the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, and Orchard Mesa — the elevated bench south of town — became home to the city's first permanent burial ground. Orchard Mesa Cemetery predates the city's formal incorporation and holds the remains of the original settlers who arrived after the Ute removal opened the Western Slope to Anglo settlement in 1881.
George A. Crawford, who founded Grand Junction in 1882 and platted the original townsite, is buried here. Walter Walker, whose role as newspaper publisher helped shape the early civic voice of the Western Slope, is also interred on the grounds. Civil War veterans who settled in Mesa County in the 1880s and 1890s are buried in sections that include graves that are now unmarked.
A haunting involving the son of a general who died in a freak windstorm in 1913 is associated with the cemetery in regional paranormal accounts, though the specific identity has not been confirmed in primary sources. Western Slope Paranormal, a Grand Junction-based investigation group, conducts public ghost investigation tours at Orchard Mesa, a practice documented in 2024 local news coverage that confirmed the cemetery as an active destination for organized paranormal research.
Sources
Western Slope Paranormal, Grand Junction's active paranormal research group, uses Orchard Mesa Cemetery as one of its public ghost investigation destinations. The September 2024 KJCT local news coverage documented the group's tours and named the cemetery as a site where they conduct organized investigations with public participants.
A separate strand of local legend ties the cemetery to the son of a general who died in a freak windstorm in 1913 at the cemetery grounds. The specific identity — which general, which son — has not been confirmed in primary sources reviewed for this entry. The account circulates in regional haunted-history coverage of Grand Junction's older burial grounds.
The combination of notable historic burials (Crawford, Walker, Civil War veterans) and the active investigation community makes Orchard Mesa one of the more substantively documented cemetery destinations in western Colorado for paranormal-focused visitors.
Notable Entities
Orchard Mesa Cemetery is the oldest surviving burial ground in Grand Junction and contains the graves of founding figures including city founder George A. Crawford and newspaper publisher Walter Walker, as well as Civil War soldiers in sections that include unmarked graves. The cemetery offers a readable cross-section of Mesa County's early settlement from the late 1870s forward.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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Atlanta, GA
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