Yorba Cemetery
Yorba Cemetery in the Woodgate Park area of Yorba Linda is one of the oldest cemeteries in Orange County and oldest private cemeteries in California. Bernardo Yorba set aside a portion of Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana as a cemetery and began construction of an adobe chapel. In his will, dated two weeks before his death in 1858, Yorba deeded the 40,000 square-foot plot of land to the Catholic Church. Members of prominent Californio families such as the Yorba, de los Reyes, Peralta, Dominguez and Navarro families were buried at the cemetery until it was closed in 1939. Over the following years vandals defaced, toppled and stole many of the rustic markers and marble headstones. Finally, in 1967, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles deeded the property to Orange County. Investigation of those interred there and renovation of the site is an ongoing effort.
Yorba Linda, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt