Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2014)
THE C L A C K A M A S P R IN T | OCT. 29, 2 0 1 4 Photo contributed by Coral Tilton | V O L . 4 8 IS S U E 3 tom b stones The Lone Fir Cemetery on SE Stark and 26th is Portlands first official cemetery. any students are scram- bling to buy fake blood, stock up on candy and figure out the best parties BH I ■ B H I to attend this Halloween. Alternatively, if you prefer a more subtle brand of spooky, you’re in luck: Robert Keeler, anthropologist and Clackamas Community College professor, is a member of the Association for Gravestone Studies and he was happy to talk about the history of Port land’s gravesites. I Imagine busy, bustling Portland in the 1800s, before it was a city: no official government, no fire depart ment and no place to lay the dearly departed. What were they to do if someone died? When some one did pass in 1846, the townspeople decided to lay the body on the property of Benjamin Stark, an orig inal westside land owner who was conveniently out of town for more than a decade. People continued to bury bodies there until Stark returned and declared he was going to develop his land. This is where Kell’s Irish Pub, Dan and Louis Oyster Bar and Skidmore Fountains lie today. ft by Britt Tiitan “Most Portlanders have no idea that was a cemetery Portland soon decided to put bodies in Lone Fir area,” Keeler said. “This is not a widely known fact. Cemetery. Access was difficult at the time because It doesn’t show up on any early maps, it’s strictly townspeople had to cross the river on a ferry, trans through city government records and newspapers of port everything on a wagon and walk a mile up a dirt road. But it was flat and it drained better than the the time.” land with springs. This became Portland’s first offi cial cemetery. Keeler believes that historic cemeteries are vital parts of our community. Our relationship with gravesites is changing. In the past, cemeteries have been somewhat abandoned. “They are important to preserve, important to study, Now cemeteries are becoming community spaces important for people to know about. They are obvi where people picnic, jog and bike ride. ously a place to bury the dead and commemorate the dead, commemorate people in the community, but they are also places for spiritual reflection,” he said. Many cemeteries also offer events on Halloween night, including Lone Fir Cemetery. “Volunteers dress up like different people who are buried at the In 1851, Portland officially became a city. It had al cemetery. The tour leads guests around and they stop most everything a city needed, except a cemetery. at each headstone, they talk about who they are and Keeler said, “It took several years of discussion, sort how they died,” said Noel Seats, Metro Cemeteries of bewailing the fact that this unplanned cemetery coordinator. was an eye sore, a health threat and somebody else’s land that had just been appropriated.” Several people offered to sell land, but Portland just couldn’t afford burial ground. Land on a hillside with springs was donated and used temporarily, but it wasn’t ideal. Looking for last minute Halloween plans? Tours at Lone Fir depart every eight minutes from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 31. Tickets are $15 general, $5 for youth and seniors. More info at the Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery website.
