Preserving Tahoe's History

Lake Tahoe History Museum  530.541.5458

Land for the cemetery was donated to the community by Assemblyman Rowland and his wife, Sophronia Dow Rowland in the second half of the 19th century.

Certificate of ownership to the City of South Lake Tahoe

​Al Tahoe Pioneer Cemetery

Seated is Assemblyman Rowland standing is his brother The Sage of Lake Tahoe

By 1851, year-round posts were established and settlers became permanent residents on Washoe land. One of the early settlements in Lake Tahoe was Rowlands Station. It included shops, a hotel, and later, the schoolhouse. This community was at the Lake’s edge and the cemetery was outside of the settlement. The first owner of the area that would later be known as Al Tahoe, was former California State Assemblyman Thomas Benton Rowland.

Before the white settlers came to the area now known as Lake Tahoe, the Washoe (Wa She Shu) people were in the region for thousands of years. The Wa She Shu had a name for the lake, Da ow aga. Lake Tahoe was the center of the universe for the Wa She Shu tribe. The area by the cemetery was where the tribe summered and it was called Imgi Wata, meaning “where the big fish run”.

Washoe couple at Lake Tahoe. Photo from The Saga of Lake Tahoe.

Washoe settlement at Rowlands Station from The Saga of Lake Tahoe, .

The cemetery in South Lake Tahoe is the Al Tahoe Pioneer Cemetery, located at 760 Alameda Avenue, and is the only historic cemetery in the Lake Tahoe basin. It is the final resting place for some of Tahoe’s earliest settlers.

The earliest burial of record in the cemetery was Richard Peters, buried in February 1868. Although the location of his burial is unknown, Thomas B. Rowland was buried in the cemetery in 1883. The last known burial was Fannie M. Rowland Barton in April 1959

Over the years, the Al Tahoe area, including the cemetery, was bought and sold five times. In 1966, Mr. Aram Harootunian, a local realtor and developer of the Al Tahoe neighborhood, deeded the cemetery to the City of South Lake Tahoe..

Partners on the restoration of the Pioneer Cemetery

Rowlands Station from The Saga of Lake Tahoe