[MooseAndSquirrel]

On road trips sometimes I like to stop and check them out, it can be interesting to read the inscriptions, etc. In southern Utah a few years ago visiting Bryce and Zion NP it seemed all of the nearby hamlets & small towns had quaint little graveyards full of history & character. Many wooden gravemarkers still upright, bleached & faded by the relentless sun. Some inscriptions told tales of death by Indians or while traveling or by illnesses with names that are long out of use. It was remarkable how many graves were still being looked after, and it was touching to see fresh flowers brightening up a grave in an otherwise godforsaken spot. Of course it's always sad to see children's graves, and especially so from a time like in the 19th Century when so many young never made it past childhood. My grandparents and many relatives are buried in Mt. View Cemetery http://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/ in Oakland, CA, and although it is far from being a quaint little final resting place, boy does that place have history and grandeur. It dates to right after the Civil War and was designed by the Olmsted's, and was one of the first cemeteries designed in a new concept as both a place for the deceased and the living, a "memorial park". It was laid out in a city grid pattern, with "blocks" and "streets". Many wealthy San Franciscans from across the Bay built very ornate & amazing tombs and crypts. But there is a wide variety of people and monuments in it. Our family plot has a few granite upright headstones- I like that traditional style-not much for the markers lying in the ground as most are nowadays (easier to mow the grass!). Anyway, very interesting place.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Thank you for the tips! Yeah, it's fascinating to try to piece together the stories behind the graves. I wasn't into grave-tourism the last time I visited Astoria, so I missed that cemetery but will definitely look for it as well as climb up the Column the next time I'm down there. Did enjoy the Maritime Museum, was a bit afraid when motoring over the high span of the Astoria bridge near town (yikes that sucker climbs-shudder) and marveled at the long history and few sunny days the town gets. The Palouse has some cool old graveyards too. I have seen Roslyn's- lots of miners & their families from overseas. My stepfather (and mother someday) is buried in the Center Church graveyard on Lopez Is., which has a great old whitewashed church building (1880's) and small cemetery full of old granite headstones in an idyllic rural location atop a hill overlooking pastures and farmland- my idea of a fine final resting place. I'm leaning toward the "scattering the ashes amongst the mountains" route when the time comes in a thousand years but a location like that wouldn't be bad either!

[sarbar]

The cemetry in Coupeville is utterly beautiful. That sounds bad, but it is high on the edge of Ebey's Bluff next to Ebey's Landing. You have a view of all the Cascades, and gently rolling farmlands-with a stinging breeze off of the water, you can sit there and feel history seeping into you, and if you look a certain way, you would swear the land hasn't changed a bit. It is timeless. The old pioneer plots are very intresting, in the upper section of the graveyard, it has trees sheltering the plots. When you hike Ebey's Bluff, this is where one should park, not down at the beach. It is oddly comforting to get out of your car and feel the richness of that area, then to hike with the cold wind in your face, and knowing you are alive.

[christy_E]

I have to admit I find it fascinating to stumble across an Old family grave site. Where.. the womans husband dies. Then she marries his brother.. he to dies.. and the lucky woman.. gets brother #3 and sometimes even #4. I was born in the wrong era!!!

[salish]

My late father was involved in geneology, and geneology & graveyards go hand in hand. He was a retired police detective, so he applied his substantial investigative skills to tracing his family roots. Since he was from the Missouri Ozarks, we spent quite a bit of time down that way going through ancient graveyards verifying information and trying to side step copperheads and avoid ticks. The highlight of these trips was finding my great grandfather's grave in the piney woods in an old abandoned farm, just north of the Arkansas border, near Pinetop, Missouri. It was just a large smooth rock with his name scratched on it. I've always been proud of these people because they were tough pioneers who barely scratched out a living in the hills, then survived the worst of the border states lawless times after the civil war. The cemetaries range from family plots to full blown "townie" graveyards, with lot's of civil war dead, and as someone else mentioned, many childrens graves, which can always be spotted by the little lamb tombstones they used back then. A couple of weeks ago I was in western Montana for my tribe's annual powwow, and one of the tasks I had to do was to search two cemetaries on the rez for my mom's sister, whose grave was lost, and also search for my great grandparents. I painstakingly searched both cemeteries for my kin but never found them. I met with the guy who oversees one of the graveyards and we searched through his "computer system" (index cards) and there was no record my my aunts burial in 1941. To make a long story shorter, the records were either lost or never were written down, and if there was a wooden marker at one time it weathered away and the graves cannot be located. Once you get in the old sections of these graveyards you realize that you are walking over bodies. They are everywhere. No markers, just uniform mounds of earth. The bones of my Indian ancestors are all over western Montana, and date back 1500-2000 years, according to the anthropologists, but that seems okay. It's the lost graves in the cemeteries that bother me because it shows neglect and disrespect. This is a good thread and I'm glad it was brought up. There is nothing macabre about cemeteries in my mind, and to show interest in these people - most of them complete strangers to us, shows respect for them and their stories. Salish

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Hey Sarbar, calling cemeteries beautiful doesn't sound bad, I'll check the Coupeville one out soon, I've got to get out to Ebey's Landing and do a hike there! I've passed thru and checked out Fort Casey & Admiralty Head nearby and of course Deception Pass area but for one reason or another haven't hiked that coastal trail you've mentioned. Salish, thanks for sharing your stories- finding an ancestor's name scratched into a rock is really poignant and in a way more "real" than our more modern markers. Like I had said earlier when I looked upon those old weatherbeaten wooden markers, with names barely legible, those brought out more emotion in me initially. There's something heartbreaking to me about seeing someone's name and maybe memory fading away like that. Of course maybe they had it coming to them. I remember when as a young tyke our family having picnics at the cemetery while visiting and paying our respects to our deceased. You'd see others doing that too. It was a form of wake I guess. My mom learned to drive on that cemetery's roads, too. My grandfather instructing, telling her not to worry too much about her driving, after all, if you hit anything they're already dead! I'm recalling right now my grandmother's burial service last Oct., after she has lived a good long life of 93 years. It was a warm, beautiful fall day, even by California standards, and after the brief graveside ceremony some of my little nieces and nephews were skipping and running around nearby on the road- an elder passed on and a new generation just beginning.

[christy_E]

The cemetary.. is where I taught my oldest kid to drive. Her sister is learning now. It's their favorite place to go "cruising".

[sarbar]

Hey, Moose, if you do get out there, just park in the public parking area across the rd from the cemetry, take the prarie trail out to the blluff then walk the bluff trail to it's end, go down and walk the trail along Perego's Lagoon, then jump back on the beach till you get to Ebey's Landing and head back up till you hit the prarie trail and back to the cemetry. It is around 5 1/2 miles to do the loop. Check out the gracesites for the Shermans, the Ebey's and the Coupes!

[Karen]

I love cemetaries, especially the old ones that are getting slightly unkempt and ungainly. Rosalyn cemetary comes to mind. But my favorite is a secret cemetary -- I bet Salish and a few more of you know where it is (the Sauk Suiattle cemetary). I was fortunate enough to have gone there before the cemetary was damaged. I felt so at peace there that I wanted to fall into a Rip Van Winkle sleep and never wake up. I wanted to be buried in a place like that. Still would. Last spring we visited the Rosalyn cemetary at dusk and felt peace there too -- but not like the Sauk Suiattle cemetary. And I won't tell you where to find it. If you want to go you'll have to go with me or someone else who has been there who can show the proper respect and appreciate the deep silence. Oddly enough when I sit in a cemetary for a while and/or wander about and read the headstones my fear of death diminishes completely. I get the same feeling when I look at "dead" snags in the mountains because they are still beautiful, in fact as beautiful in death as they were/are in life. Karen

[Alan Bauer]

Ditto here---my rig comes to a screeching halt when I encounter one. I think a lot of us do since many share a strong pull and interest for NW History and these places are all a piece of that. From a photographic standpoint I love the details and engravings in so many of the ancient headstones. Or an old stone with a tree or fern growing beside it due to years of nature taking back the plot....what fun these images are from a digital artistic standpoint to create images from. Historically they inspire me to want to learn more about a region, a community. The huge farm I grew up on in Oregon was across a road from an old area once known as Orleans, OR. There is still an old 100 year old single room church there and the Orleans cemetary. As a kid I could go into the brush on the borders of it...and found numerous hidden plots of "Old Grandma - D. 1889" stuff, or 2-3 day old infants. I remember crying as a child finding one of those as I realized then how lucky I was to live the life I did. I remember going home that Friday after getting off the school bus after snooping more in my private cemetary (it seemed so as a kid) and just hugging and loving my parents that weekend more than any 8 yr old could. Today some places that I've really visited thoroughly...and often many times...include the Wenas Cemetary, the one in Sqwak Prairie, Roslyn, and even the Maple Valley Cemetary. REAL close to home you just can't beat the Fall City Cemetary only a mile from my home. The fathers of the Snoqualmie Valley lie there. Jeremiah Borst. The Quigly family. Chief Kanim is also there in a small area set aside for the native tribe people. I have photographed much of this full location. Wenas really is a wonderful small location that you should stop at. Eastern Washington is the latest on my list since I've been traveling around so much for other projects in all areas there over the past 2 years. The Harrington, Mansfield, and Waterville Cemetaries are just prime examples! Down in SE Washington the Asotin Cemetary was a lovely place to rest last spring. Plus you can relax here since no one talks back at you. If they did, I'd listen anyhow.

[Stefan]

One of my fondest memories as a kid was going every Memorial Day weekend to a gravesite where my great grandparents and other relatives were buried. We did maintenance on the old gravesites--probably about 3000sq feet total(the whole graveyard). The gravesite was next to a major road between Portland and Gresham. I think the county wants to expand the road and is looking to move the gravesites.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

[Stefan]

[mpaul_hansen]

grave site of Willie Keil [1836-1855], in SW Washington... FYI His father, Dr. William Keil, from a Bethelite sect [ named after Bethel, MO] decided to take his flock to the western US. His son Willie was enthusiastic, but died from fever 4 days before departure in May 1855. Dr Keil granted his son's wish by putting his body in a whiskey-filled, lead-lined coffin and took it via wagon train to the Willapa Valley. Willie Keil was laid to rest near the present-day hwy [ about 7 miles east of Raymond] on Nov. 26, 1855.

[mike]