Colma, California, where the living are outnumbered by the dead!

Have you been to a town where the dead outnumber the living? If you haven’t, you must visit the town of Colma, one of the most unusual and bizarre towns in the golden state. 

Founded as a necropolis in 1924, the town is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, near the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula. In 1900, the city of San Francisco passed an ordinance banning the construction of any more cemeteries, which in turn, made the town the relocation site of the cemeteries in San Francisco. The town has 17 cemeteries which comprises 73% of the town total area of 1.909 square miles. The town has more than 1,500 living inhabitants and a staggering 1.5 million underground “residents”. The town residents became dependent on the cemeteries for their income working as flower growers, grave diggers and monument makers, but during the 1980s, other businesses were opened including car dealerships and shopping centers. The town is a mile away from Daly City, 7 miles from San Francisco, and 14 miles from Oakland.

Often called the “City of Souls,” and the “City of the Silent”, the city is where you can visit a number of cemeteries where famous and noted personalities are buried including Wyatt Earp, Levi Strauss, William Randolph Hearst, Joe DiMaggio, and other historical and political figures. It also has a pet cemetery and crematorium which was founded in 1947. To learn more about the town, its history, and the cemeteries established in the town, you must visit the Colma Museum.

Colma is a town that does not really spell fun, but its history is very fascinating, and downright bizarre! 

by Sunshine Silva on 12/25/2015 in Sightseeing

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