Camelback Cemetery

Located at 6800 E. McDonald Drive, between Scottsdale Road and Mockingbird Lane, is Camelback Cemetery.  With no sign indicating its name, the cemetery, located across the street from Kiva Elementary School and Valley Presbyterian Church, is easy to miss as you drive by.  There's no sign and it looks pretty sparse.


The cemetery was originally part of the 160-acre homestead of Hans and Mary Weaver.  In 1915, the Weavers’ daughter, Hattie, married Adolph Poenicke and, three weeks after the wedding, Adolph died and was buried on the family property.  The following year, Hans and Mary Weaver deeded a portion of their homestead as a cemetery, naming it Camelback Cemetery, after the nearby mountain.  That same year, Mary Weaver died and was buried there.


According to a History of the Town of Paradise Valley found at the Town's website, "The cemetery is the final resting place for many who died in the 1918 flu epidemic, Mexican-Catholics who had no other Catholic cemetery nearby, and military veterans. Some of the original white crosses that were placed on gravesites eroded over time and their markings were unclear. As they were replaced, many crosses were put up at random since there was no way of knowing who was buried in a particular grave. In 1954, a flagpole and a monument were built in honor of military veterans. Approximately 600 people are resting in this cemetery."