The Comstock cemeteries are within the boundaries of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark (NHL).  Because of its rich history, the National Park Service in 1961 designated Virginia City and the surrounding area a NHL, to commemorate the history of the mining frontier. The Landmark, commonly referred to as the Comstock, encompasses nearly 15,000 acres. In 1859 Virginia City and the surrounding area burst into prominence and fame because of the Comstock Lode discovery, one of the richest ore strikes in the world.

The historic cemeteries of the Comstock are among the last survivors of the roar and silence that defined the fabric of the Comstock. The cemeteries are memorials to the laboring classes that toiled behind the machinery of industrialized mining. Culturally diverse groups such as Irish, Welsh, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and German, all lived and died while working the mines and supporting the communities of the Comstock. In their glory days, the cemeteries were a collection of Victorian parks spilling across the desert landscape in a green patchwork of flowers and shrubbery and neatly painted fences. Despite the glowing reports of the times and the historic position of the cemetery as the forerunner to national parks, the Comstock cemeteries today are imminently threatened. Overgrown vegetation, erosion gullies and water run-offs, missing or dilapidated markers, a mix of inappropriate/counter productive restoration efforts, and a lack of cultural resource protection is leading to ultimate destruction. Internal fencing is eroded and external fencing is nonexistent or ineffective, thus inviting vandalism and theft.

Cemeteries of the Victorian era, such as the Gold Hill and Silver Terrace, were viewed as gardens. They were places for contemplation and for the enjoyment of gardens and nature. The landscape was filled with trees, flowering plants, roses, morning glories and dense fields of purple clover. Not even a shadow of these historic gardens remains today, only the dead carcasses of old trees and overgrown sagebrush. The early community wanted the cemetery to be a beautiful oasis in the desert landscape and a dignified place to bury their loved ones. These 19th century cemeteries, complete with watering systems, were the prelude to America’s national parks. They are disappearing from sight and from memory.