Driving through Wyoming on our road trip, our main interest was ghost towns. I knew from some research I did before hitting the road that the state had A LOT of them.
On the way to Superior, which to be fair I wouldn’t consider an actual ghost town at all, my eagle eye-d husband spotted this cemetery. From the road it doesn’t look like too much. Up on a hill and covered in sagebrush, the majority of the grave markers aren’t really visible until you get up close.
…But within minutes of being inside the small gates, I was exclaiming “this is definitely in my top ten!!!” It hits all the marks for me. Full of unique headstones? Check! Landscaping different than you’d see in the midwest? Check! Old? Check! Kinda sorta off the beaten path? Check! There’s just something truly special about cemeteries in the desert.
The majority of burials in this cemetery were done between 1900 and 1923, although a new section was opened for public use in 1994. The Superior, Wyoming website notes that most of the graves are dated during the influenza epidemic that followed World War 1.
Did you know that the flu epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people?! 25% of the United States population got it and within one year the average life expectancy dropped by 12 years. Ooof! The national archives and records administration has some information on this which you can find here. Quick, interesting read with historical photos + documents. We did not learn about this in school so I definitely just spend a
As well as finding this excellent cemetery, we also spotted wild horses! It started with one. When we pulled over to take a photo of it, I spotted the baby! Then as I got the 70-200mm lens on my camera and set up my shot, I spotted even more of them. There ended up being nine of them in total!
(Little side note here, I LOVE this lens. At this point, it’s a road trip essential! Being able to get gorgeous animal photos without disturbing them is priceless.)
Not to sound dramatic
Our time in Wyoming was short but it left me wanting more! My feelings on it are similar to my feelings for Utah which are ‘holy cow, why does no one talk about this gorgeous state!?!” Totally underrated! I can’t wait to go back.
Other posts from this trip –
Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more graveyard goodness under the ‘cemetery‘ tag.