Founding the Santa Barbara Cemetery

Santa Barbara pioneer Isaac Sparks would have fit right in with the cast of The Revenant. He was a mountain man through and through, with the morals of an alley cat and the demeanor of a grizzly bear, whom he bested in a fight (though he lost an eye). Nevertheless, he was at the vanguard of the American settlement of Santa Barbara in the 1830s. He served as mayor in 1853 and was a partner in the Chapala Street Wharf Company before his death in in 1867. 

Sparks was laid to rest at the Protestant Cemetery in town – an unfenced, uncared for piece of land that lay next to the excavation pit for clay, an early source of bricks at the eastern end of Montecito Street. One critic complained, “The bones of the brave dead lie scattered around and are ground up by passing wheels.” Sparks’ pals bemoaned the condition of this eternal resting place and quickly determined to create a proper cemetery in town. Three weeks later, they created the Santa Barbara Cemetery Association.

In 1868, the Association acquired the first piece of land near the Salt Marsh (today’s Andrée Clark Bird Refuge). By 1872, they announced that the lots were selling off fast and that most of the desirable locations would soon be sold. Those who had purchased lots were to improve and ornament them and add to the beauty of the grounds. 

By 1874, however, Sparks’ funerary conditions in town must have been improved, for a visitor to Santa Barbara described seeing a marble monument bearing the inscription “Isaac J. Sparks, died June 16, 1867, aged 67 years.” This monument was surrounded by an iron railing and lay on a fenced lot adjoining the residence of Arza Porter on Chapala Street. Porter was married to Sparks’ daughter Constantine. In 1877, Sparks’ bones and monument were moved to the new cemetery, and he was joined by his pioneer compatriots, Lewis T. Burton and Captain George Nidever, in 1879 and 1883 respectively.

Today, the stories behind the people interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery reveal the development and history of Santa Barbara. And no one is more qualified to tell those stories than David Petry, author of The Best Last Place: A History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery. And luckily, on Sunday, May 25, at 10 am, Petry will be giving a Cemetery Tour and regaling visitors with tales of Santa Barbarans, both good-or-bad and famous-or-infamous.

The public is invited to join David as he resurrects the mysteries behind the George Washington Smith designed chapel with its incredible and controversial murals by Alfredo Ramos Martinez. There, a perusal of the walls reveals an incredible array of familiar names; people and families who have figured prominently in creating the Santa Barbara and Montecito we know today.

Next, a one-mile stroll through the beautiful cemetery landscape will visit tombs and monuments. Visitors will learn the story of the development of the cemetery and hear the tales of those who now keep Isaac Sparks and his brethren company in that long pageant of history leading to present times.

Reservations are required and tickets for the tour may be obtained from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. The cost is $20 for Museum members and $30 for general admission. Flat-soled walking shoes are recommended for the one-mile hilly stroll through the cemetery. For tickets, go to www.sbhistorical.org/events and click on the link for reservations.  

[A note to fellow historians. The 1874 information about Sparks’ grave comes from the Los Angeles Herald, 28 July 1874, page 1. This is new information, yes?]