The Pioneer Cemetery at the north end of town is one of the quieter corners of Nevada City, and one of the most evocative. Established around 1851, it holds the remains of many of the miners, merchants, and early settlers who built the town, and the headstones offer an unfiltered look at the demographics of Gold Rush California: young men from every corner of the world, most of them dead before 40.
The cemetery is well-maintained and easy to walk through. The variety of surnames — Chinese, European, Latin American — reflects the genuinely international character of the Gold Rush, when Nevada City was briefly one of the most cosmopolitan places in North America. A short walk uphill from the downtown core.