TEHACHAPI, Calif. (KERO) — Tehachapi’s historic cemetery is the final resting place of the town’s earliest settlers. Many of their stories have faded with time… but tonight, I’ll take you inside this sacred ground to reveal a chapter of Tehachapi’s past that should never be forgotten.
In a quiet neighborhood in Tehachapi sits the Old Tehachapi Cemetery — a resting place for some of the town’s first settlers.
Jon Hammond is a local historian, and he says, “The first burial in here was in 1858, and Kern County didn’t become a county until 1866, so this actually predates the county. The first person buried here was a woman we know as Mrs. Alex Prewitt. She gave birth to the first white child in the Tehachapi Mountains in 1856, and she died in 1858.”
Mrs. Prewitt is just one of the weathered headstones and faded names that tell stories stretching back more than 160 years.
Mr. Thomas Goddard is another early settler laid to rest here — a lawman who lost his life while serving the community. “Thomas Goddard’s grave is over there. He was a constable who was killed in the line of duty. He was attempting to arrest a man and ended up in a gunfight. He shot and killed the man he was trying to arrest, and a friend of the deceased swore vengeance on Goddard. That man’s name was James Hayes.” Hammond said.
Jon Hammond’s connection to this cemetery goes back decades. At just 11 years old, he joined the Tehachapi Heritage League. Over time, the site fell into neglect — but Hammond says the league has been instrumental in bringing it back to life, restoring and maintaining this historic resting place.
“I was a little kid at the time. Volunteers helped clean it up and made replacement headstones to mark them in their correct locations.” He said.
In recent years, community members have continued working to preserve the site — ensuring the memories of those buried here are not lost to time.
For local historians, preserving the Old Tehachapi Cemetery is about more than stone markers — it’s about keeping the spirit of the town’s earliest settlers alive.
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