Welcome to Vail Memorial Park
Vail Memorial Park provides a place where those who have lived in Vail, or loved the Gore Creek valley, can be memorialized. Any current or past resident of Vail or Eagle County and anyone who feels an emotional connection with the region is invited to purchase a memorial inscription. Cremated remains may be scattered or interred in an urn of biodegradable material.
The 11 acre park is home to native plants and animals. Ecosystems range from wetlands to forest to high alpine desert. The park consist of a network of crushed gravel pathways that form loops through the trees and native boulders. The memorial boulders, walls, and benches line these pathways. At spring run off, waterways come though the park to provide needed moisture to the area. During the Summer months the wildflowers bloom in all their glory. The memorial stones and inscriptions blend with the natural surroundings. Environmentally conscious and low water usage.
The Park is located along the Gore Creek. Parking is available I-70, Exit 180. Walk 1/3 mile downstream along the Gore Creek Recreation Path. On the left, just past the arched bridge. Please inquire if you would like assistance accessing, or have questions about the Vail Memorial Park.
Several types of memorials are available:
- Memorial inscriptions on stones in low dry stacked walls or free standing boulders
- Memorial flagstone pavers as the base of the dry stacked wall start at $2000 for Vail residents.
- Stone benches and oversized boulders
- Ashes may be scattered at the site or intered in a biodegradable urn behind the memorial walls or under memorial stones.
The stones that make up the memorial wall and the boulders surrounding it has been specially selected because of their qualities, very hard fine grained stones. They are intended to hold an inscription much longer than local softer more porous sandstone. As each individual person memorialized in the park is unique, so is each stone. The size, shape, discolorations, cracks and sharp corners lend each rock a specific personality.
A tasteful and meditative memorial park
Each stone has its own properties, some surfaces are more suitable to engrave than others. Please be assured that every effort is made to provide the best inscription possible, taking into account the different qualities of each stone. As technology becomes available to enhance the inscription process, Vail Memorial Park will certainly take advantage of it, to provide a quality service to those memorialize in the park and their loved ones. Part of the endowment fund is set aside to maintain the inscriptions and ‘touch up’ throughout the years as may be required.
The park has been designed to embrace the natural surroundings and provide a resting place that is in pace with nature around it. Getting to the park in the winter and spring will require snow shoes, cross country skis and an intrepid spirit. The park is not plowed or shoveled in the winter months. While each snow season is different, usually from the first of December until late April the park will have snow on the ground and around the memorials. This does not preclude visits in the winter months. Loved ones have been known to take the day and snowshoe out along the recreation path or take the groomed cross country ski tracks east from the golf course to visit the site, clean off the snow surrounding their memorial and have a service.
About Us
It completes our life cycle as individuals and as a community.
Thanks to the vision of the founders and the commitment of the Town of Vail Council an undeveloped site of some 11+ acres has been transformed into a tasteful and meditative memorial park.
Gives Vail a soul
Vail Memorial Park enables us to celebrate life and death within our own boundaries and to create an enduring repository of community history to honor the lives of those who have come before us.
Provides a lasting remembrance of our loved ones
The Vail Community has long acknowledged the need for a memorial park so our ‘pioneers’ and their families can experience this important legacy in what is perhaps the final chapter in making our community stronger and more complete.
All who feel connected to Vail have a place here
For many of us, Vail was to be a short lived destination in our transient lives, but something happened along the way. We fell in love with the place and people, and now we’ve come to understand that Vail is the place we want to be remembered in death as in life. All who feel connected to Vail have a place here.
It connects us to the next generation
The Vail Community has long acknowledged the need for a memorial park so our ‘pioneers’ and their families can experience this important legacy in what is perhaps the final chapter in making our community stronger and more complete.
Experience the landscape
The park is open space for many to enjoy in a respectful way. There is a running/hiking/biking trail along the hillside and the open meadow is meant to be enjoyed by every one, walking paths are designed to allow visitor so see different parts of the park, to utilize the meadow access to view the variety of flowers, wild life and scenery.
During the summer months you may see mountain bikers resting in the memorial gathering space, people doing morning stretches, or families gathering for picnics. Fox, bear and a variety of small critters have been seen in the park as well as mountain goats on the cliff band directly above the park. Young fawns and bobcat have been spotted in recent years.
Refunds. It is the policy of the Vail Memorial Park board that all sales are final and no refunds or re-sale of memorials is allowed. You may donate your stone back to the VMP if you wish.
We encourage you to visit the park often throughout the changing seasons and embrace its uniqueness.