Entrance gate made by Daniel Morgan in 1998. photo Cordelia RoseOn Friday on August 15, 2025, the NM Department of Cultural Affairs, Historic Preservation Division's Cultural Properties Review Committee entered the Mogollon Cemetery in the NM State Register of Cultural Properties. This project has been in the works since January 2022. Below is a summary of the significance of the cemetery and the State Register nomination.
Mogollon Cemetery is a site of historical significance as it served the listed silver and gold mining towns of Mogollon and of Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town during their productive period 1887-1942. Mogollon Cemetery remains little changed since its founding in the late 1880s when the first gold was discovered in 1887 by Frank Vingo at the Fannie Hill Mine.
Mogollon Cemetery is one mile north of the mining town of Mogollon in rural Catron County, New Mexico. It is located at the end of Fannie Road C-040 and along Forest Service Road 40560 in the Gila National Forest. The cemetery is a 2.3-acre, unplanned cemetery with 207 identified burial sites. These include burial mounds often covered with rocks; handmade grave markers; commercial stone markers; family plots with wood-and-metal fences; and a mass burial mound covered with rocks. The wooded site includes few clearings and no formal landscaping; burials are reached by unplanned foot paths.
3D Cross made of baling wire. photo Cordelia RoseMogollon Cemetery is significant at the local level under National Register Criterion A in the area of social history because the cemetery plan (counted as one site) and burial markers (counted as one object) convey the social, economic, and industrial history of the town of Mogollon. The Mogollon Cemetery is significant at the local level under National Register Criterion C in the area of art because the handmade markers, especially, and the commercially produced markers represent art, craft, and materials specific to the Mogollon community. The markers, many constructed by residents, convey their ingenuity and skill as they mourned the loss of family members.
For the complete documentation, the nomination number for Mogollon Cemetery is SR 2093. During summer months visit Mogollon Cemetery Archives and Mogollon Museum for further information.
Earliest dated grave marker. photo Cordelia RosePlease contact me if you have any questions. Cordelia Rose, Whitewater Mesa Labyrinths. 575 313-1002
Wooden grave marker with rounded ends. photo Cordelia Rose
