The Jonas Barber family settled in the South Boulder Creek area circa 1861. There is an 1872 BLM record that indicates Jonas Barber was awarded patent land in South Boulder Creek (referred to as Eldorado Springs after 1910-1920) and in Golden, Jefferson County. Jonas settled in Golden and one of his sons, Charles E. Barber, settled in South Boulder Creek. The Charles E. Barber homestead included the land dedicated for a cemetery. The cemetery was named the Jonas Barber Cemetery, and it was for the burial of family members and close friends who also settled in the area. The Cemetery has a great location with a backdrop of majestic canyon walls and a view of the plains to the east. The first burial was in 1873 and was for a young daughter of Edmund Adolphus Barber (1846-1918), and the last known burial was in 1964.

The Boulder Carnegie Library provided a 1977 survey of the Cemetery, which was still referred to as the Jonas Barber Cemetery. The survey identified the graves with headstones, but there were (and still are) a number of unmarked graves, possible graves, and probably graves with missing headstones. According to the survey there were about 30 graves. There may be more.

Mark Barber indicated to Barber decendents that a number of men that helped build the Moffitt Tunnel under the continental divide and lost their lives were also buried at the Eldorado Springs Cemetery outside the two fenced plots. Many of the marked graves are in an enclosed area containing graves of persons with the Barber surname and Barber relatives.

At some point, the Barber family sold the land containing the Cemetery to the Fowler family. The Fowlers were the founders, owners, and developers of the Eldorado Springs Resort. Beginning in 1922, Fowler family members were also buried in the Cemetery (a total of six burials). In about 1984, the Fowlers sold the resort and its land to the State of Colorado to establish the Eldorado Canyon State Park. They also sold other land holdings in the area to various people. The present owner of the Cemetery and the land surrounding the Cemetery is the Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram, hosts of the Shambbhava School of Yoga. The Ashram has owned the land for about 30 years.

The Yoga Ashram does not receive many – if any - visitors to the Cemetery. The land immediately surrounding the Cemetery is used for an alpaca pasture. The graves are in bad repair with weeds obscuring the headstones in summer.

The Cemetery is fairly easy to find if you know where to look. It can be found with Google maps by searching for the Eldorado Springs Cemetery (Boulder County). When you are traveling on State Hwy 93 between Boulder and Golden, turn west onto Hwy 170 and go towards Eldorado Springs. Before you reach the Post Office, Boulder County Road 67 turns left. Follow this road up a hill for a short distance and the Cemetery and Yoga Ashram are on the right.

The physical address and phone number of the Yoga Ashram are:

2875 County Road 67
Boulder County, Colorado 80303
1-303-494-3051

It is located in Section 30, R72W, T1S and the coordinates are:

Latitude 39.933651 N
Longitude -105.270950 W