Mount Hope Cemetery in Mount Hope, Colón

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Get directions Mount Hope, Colón, Panama

Coordinates: 9.33729, -79.89732
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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Mount Hope Cemetery, also known as Monte Esperanza, is one of the oldest public cemeteries in Panama. Located on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal in Colon, Republic of Panama, it is on the road to the Rainbow City District. The Hispanic community named the city Colón in honor of Christopher Columbus. Historically an alternate name for the city of Colon was also Aspinwall in reference to the Panama Railroad promoter William Henry Aspinwall. Long before the Panama Canal was built (finished in 1914) the Panama Railroad (finished in 1855) was built to connect travelers to steamboats at the Atlantic and Pacific sides.

The location of the cemetery was originally jungle and then later farmland. It was even originally called Monkey Hill (Colina de Monos) Cemetery because of the many colonies of monkeys populating the trees on the hill before the land was further developed.

There are many ancient graves there especially of the Silver Roll employees (mostly black West Indian) and their families who helped to build and operate the Canal throughout its more than 100 year history. Included in some of these ancient burials are also many Jamaicans and other West Indians who worked and died building the Panama Railroad.

Many of the American burials here were moved in 1979 to Corozal American Cemetery.