Posts Tagged ‘Oysterville Cemetery’

See you at the church on Saturday?

Monday, April 4th, 2016

2009 10 19_0154 WANTED:  Interested community volunteers to join the Oysterville Cemetery Association and, perhaps, to serve on the Cemetery Board.  It’s not the sexiest job in the world.  On the other hand, it isn’t very demanding either.  A concerted search has revealed minutes from our last meeting — dated 1986!   Our ‘clients’ don’t complain and, as long as the work gets done, everyone seems at peace.

Back in the early ’60s (1860s, that is) F.C. Davis sold an acre of his land to the newly formed Cemetery Association for $100.  The acre on “Davis Hill” just west of town was  to be used as Oysterville’s burying ground. For the next hundred years, the residents of Oysterville looked after the graves of their loved ones, saw to it that the unknown sailors who washed up on our beaches were given a decent burial and a place to rest for eternity, and trusted to the local mortician to keep track of things.  Except for cleaning up the gravesites (a springtime community effort) there was never ‘much doin’ in the Cemetery.

Stevens GraveThen, in the mid-’60s (the 1960s, this time) when Cecil Espy retired from his banking career in Portland and moved back here to the house in which he was born, he took it upon himself to “clean up the Cemetery grounds.”  With a small hand scythe he cut the waist-high grass that had grown around and over the gravestones and carefully brought the cemetery up to his high standard of appearance.  He gathered up the bits and pieces of deeds and sales records and the old linen map and, as he aged, began to think of the Cemetery as his own.

In the late seventies, when Uncle Cecil could no longer do the physical labor, the neighbors began to talk about the future of the little graveyard on Davis Hill.  They formed a Cemetery Association — the initial membership list looks like a roll call of those now buried on the site they so lovingly tended.  Some of us are still at it, but we are getting long in the tooth, ourselves.  It’s time for us to look for newer, younger volunteers to take over.

2009 10 19_0049With that in mind, we are holding a meeting of the Oysterville Cemetery Association this Saturday, April 9th at the Oysterville Church.   Residents of the community are urged to attend.  There are no “pre-requisites” for joining us — only a love of our quiet little ‘final resting place’ and an interest in continuing the work that was started more than 150 years ago.

Please join us at 10:00 Saturday morning (April 9th) at the Oysterville Church to help us in this important “regrouping” effort.  Oh… and in case you need a little more enticement, coffee and cookies will be served!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division of Labor

Friday, March 25th, 2016
Oysterville Cemetery - Looking North from Stevens' Plot

Oysterville Cemetery – Looking North from Stevens’ Plot

We drove up to the cemetery yesterday to see how it was looking now that the huge spruce tree has been removed.  There is still a lot of blowdown, but the north end of the pioneer section looks fabulous – better than it has in many months.  Dead tree limbs and twigs that litter the cemetery after winter storms have been gathered up into six or seven neat piles – about a pickup load each – and await a trip to the dump. (Volunteers, take note!  Feel free to help out by taking a pile!)

Contrary to popular belief, there have been no invisible just-come-out-at-night cemetery elves at work here.  The cleanup can be attributed almost entirely to Corky and Ron Biggs.  They have put in hours and hours of work raking, hauling, and tidying.  They’ve been doing it for years but it has taken the magical transformation following our tree disaster to make their work really obvious.  They are definitely the unsung heroes of the Oysterville Cemetery.

Stevens' Marker, Knocked Off Its Base

Stevens’ Marker, Knocked Off Its Base

For almost three decades, Ron has served as President of the Oysterville Cemetery Association.  As such, he signs deeds and other important documents, but mostly he handles the physical aspects of cemetery stewardship.  When it comes time for a burial, it’s Ron who stakes out the plot so that Penttila’s will know the correct location.  When the road around the perimeter gets rutted, it’s Ron who arranges to get the gravel and, usually, it’s Ron who’s up there with his shovel doing the necessary road work.

Once, when we had a vacancy on the Cemetery Board, I suggested that Ron’s wife, Corky, might fill the position.  “Why would you do that?” she asked.  “As long as you have Ron, you get me, anyway!”  And, that is the absolute understatement of all time.  Often, it’s Corky who goes up to the cemetery after a storm to check it out.  She’s usually the one who spots a problem and sees to it that it gets fixed.  And, if there were medals for Cleaner-Upper Extraordinaire, Corky would have a trophy case full of them.

Fence Remnants Hidden in Salal

Fence Remnants Found Hidden in Salal

What’s even more impressive to me is that Corky never ever says a word about what she’s done.  Ron brags on her a little, sometimes, as a good husband should!  But, I doubt that the general public has a clue about her efforts over the years.  If you see her, you might tell her “thank you.”  But, knowing Corky, she’d be more pleased if you just pitched in and helped.  There’s more blowdown to gather at the south end of the cemetery.  And, if you have a truck and a little time, there are all those piles that need to be taken away.

The Kindness of Friends and Strangers

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016
Before the Cleanup - Photo by Corky Biggs

Before the Cleanup – Photo by Corky Biggs

The calls of concern and donations toward cleanup are coming in.  They are from friends and strangers, about in equal numbers.  One of the first checks came from a woman in Maryland whose father had lived in Long Beach.  As far as I know, her only connection to Oysterville and to our cemetery is through the occasional visit.  I’m not even sure how she heard about our troubles unless, perhaps, she gets the Chinook Observer online or in person.

The disaster has made the paper’s front page headlines two weeks in a row now and, each time, the articles have suggested getting in touch with me with offers of help.  And people have been doing exactly that!  We are so grateful – and by ‘we’ I mean, first and foremost The Oysterville Cemetery Association which, like all such groups here on the Peninsula, is composed of volunteers.  Aging ones, at that!  Also – ‘we’ is the greater ‘we’ of the entire Oysterville community and the ‘we’ who have loved ones buried up in the old graveyard.

Before the Cleanup - Photo by Corky Biggs

Before the Cleanup – Photo by Corky Biggs

It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that DPR Builder and Developers and Hill & Son Excavating, Inc. donated their equipment, their manpower, and their time to remove the huge spruce that fell across the road and onto the Stevens (no relation) gravesite.  What a wonderful community service!  And, as far as I know, neither firm has a direct connection with the cemetery, as in forebears buried there.

The closest connection I can make is that Pat Lucero (of DPR) and Parker Hill (of Hill & Son) were both students in my 1st/2nd/3rd grade classes at Ocean Park School back in the 1980s/1990s.  Undoubtedly, we took a field trip to Oysterville and maybe even went up to the cemetery.  Maybe.  Probably wishful thinking on my part, but it doesn’t matter how that seed of community service and caring might have been planted – they get our undying (no pun intended) appreciation and admiration.

Stevens Cemetery Plot - Drawing by Larry Weathers, 1978

Stevens Cemetery Plot – Drawing by Larry Weathers, 1978

Getting an evaluation of damage to the stones (which looks to be minimal) and how to fix them is a whole other ballgame.  The “only monument company in town” is not in town at all but in Astoria.  They are short of workers and won’t be able to be here for a month or more.  Actually we’ve had calls in to them for more than a year about other gravestone matters but, in this case, they have offered to provide advice with regard to stone adhesives etc. to a qualified worker.  We have a call in to the best mason in the area and our fingers are crossed that we’ll soon get a response.

Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who has come forward with donations and offers of help.  Once again we are so grateful and proud to live here in this very special and caring place!

Grave Damage at the Oysterville Cemetery

Friday, March 11th, 2016
Peter Janke Photo

A Peter Janke Photo

The ink was not yet dry (so to speak) on yesterday’s blog before Dan Driscoll wrote that contrary to my storm damage (as in the lack thereof) report, the North End of Oysterville had suffered considerably. Especially the cemetery. And he referenced our neighbor Peter Janke’s photos.

A Corky Biggs Photo

A Corky Biggs Photo

A Peter Janke Photo

A Peter Janke Photo

Hard on the heels of that notification, Ron Biggs came by to say that he was contacting a couple of contractors to see who could take care of the tree that had fallen across the Stevens’ plot. “They’ll need a bucket truck,” he said. “It may be spendy.”

As President of the Oysterville Cemetery Association, it is Ron who oversees the graveyard’s physical needs. Often he and his wife Corky do necessary cleanup themselves, but this time is different. We’ll need professional help and, as the official Secretary/Treasurer and writer-of-checks, that’s where I come in. All I could think of was “at least our hillside didn’t slide away like at the Ilwaco Cemetery.” And, “I wonder why the Peninsula’s poor old cemeteries are on Mother Nature’s hit list right now.”

Ron also said that he had locked the gate to the cemetery for the time being. People can still walk in but vehicles won’t be permitted until the road is passable. “Until then,” he said, “it would be hard to get around without running over the grass; we don’t need more damage.”

A Peter Janke Photo

A Peter Janke Photo

I haven’t been up there yet to see for myself. The Stevens’ (no relation) plot is right next to the Espy section and is one of the oldest in the cemetery. Ron said he doesn’t think the main stone was damaged although it looks like the top section might have been knocked off. “We’ll know more when they get that tree out of there and we can see it clearly,” he said.

Ditto, I guess, the sign that marks the graves of unknown sailors. It looks as though the wooden posts broke off and it just toppled over. Corky says that Ron can take care of that one. Bless him!

Marriage of ‘Mrs. Nippers’ and Other News

Monday, February 22nd, 2016
Annual Regatta, c. 1870s

Annual Oysterville Regatta, c. 1870s

This morning I ran across two interesting letters (actually copies sent to my mother by the late Ruth Dixon). The first, from Isaac Smith of North River, was written to Mary Richardson Wells Bristow of “Eugene City, Oregon.” Written July 2, 1872, it is choc-a-bloc full of interesting ‘news’ including this bit about the upcoming boat race on Shoalwater Bay:

…there is not much of anything going on except there is going to be a boat race on the Fourth. I have got the “Lib” fitted up and intend going up to get “cleaned out.” I will write again and give you full particulars after the race…
Oh!! “Mother Nippers has got married to an old fellow at Oysterville by the name of Franklin.

Wells, Richardson, Woodward Tombstone, Oysterville Cemetery0003

Wells/Richardson/Woodward Tombstone, Oysterville Cemetery — according to Marie Oesting in her “Oysterville Cemetery Sketches” this is “the most puzzling” marker in the cemetery.

An added comment (perhaps by Mrs. Dixon) at the bottom of the letter perhaps is in explanation of Isaac’s boat’s namesake: “Lib (Elizabeth Miranda Richardson) who was first married to a man named Pope, was a sister of Mary Jane Richardson, who was married first to William Benjamin Wells, who was a famous steamboat man on the Willamette and Columbia rivers. He founded the town of Port William at Toke’s Point, at the lighthouse, and had a general store there. He carried the mail from Oysterville, and Miles Standish Griswold was the postmaster at Port William. Captain Wells was drowned soon thereafter, and has a large tombstone in the Oysterville cemetery.”

Mary Bristow forwarded Isaac’s letter on to her mother with this additional information:

Mrs. Nippers that Isaac spoke of is Mrs. Doctor Johnson…
I believe I wrote you the particulars about the boat racing. There is a boat club at Oysterville. Isaac belongs to it. There is no betting, but everyone pays a certain amount and prizes are bought with the money. Those that win get the prize.

In the Pioneer Section of the Oysterville Cemetery, Espys are in Lot #1, Wells is in Lot #61

In the Pioneer Section of the Oysterville Cemetery, Espys are in Lot #1, Wells is in Lot #61

The letters are full of other tidbits about local happenings. Mrs. Dixon’s comment: “It seems the living Espys did not know the Wells, but the deceased are close neighbors in the Oysterville Cemetery…” Actually, not very close by my reckoning. Espys are in one corner and Wells in another.

As usual… these bits and pieces conjure up more questions than answers. Why do you suppose they called her “Mrs. Nippers” for instance? And, since Dr. Johnson’s tombstone in the Oysterville Cemetery says he died in 1877, how did his wife, “Mrs. Nippers,” happen to re-marry five years previously? Maybe Bud Goulter, a descendent of Dr. Johnson, might know.  You could spend a lifetime trying to connect the dots…

and, speaking of ghosts…

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014
Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula

Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula

Evening before last, a reporter from Longview’s Daily News called to talk to me about Ghost Stories of the Long Beach Peninsula. We spoke for the better part of an hour and I wish I had caught his name. He was a great interviewer.

He said the story will come out in tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) paper and he promised to send me a copy. I am eager to see what he made of my answers to his questions. Interviews are always a bit of a crapshoot, especially telephone interviews. But I enjoyed this one so I have high hopes.

For one thing, this reporter had read the book from cover to cover. That’s not always true. More than one interviewer I’ve talked with over the years has glossed over the ‘homework’ part of their assignment and based their questions (and, unfortunately, the resulting article) on impressions gleaned from titles or covers. Not so this time.

In fact, there were several questions that would never have occurred to me. “Do you think there are more ghosts per square mile on the Long Beach Peninsula than there are in other areas?” he asked. That question gave me pause but I finally said I didn’t think so. For one thing, I expected that my book talk at Adelaide’s last Saturday would generate a lot of personal ghost experiences from the audience, but that was not the case.

Glenmorag-3sepia

The Glenmorag 1896

Only two people spoke to me about their own knowledge of ghosts, other than the ones in the book. One couple referred to the elusive spirt (or maybe two) at the Lamplighter in Seaview. I’ve been pursuing that story for some time and maybe this lead will help me pin it down. Another woman spoke to me of experiences at her house – also in Seaview as I recall. I took phone numbers…

The other question that the Daily News reporter asked concerned ghostly mariners. Did I have knowledge of any? In an area so closed to “the graveyard of the Pacific” there surely must be tales of restless spirits – sailors or ship captains who appear, “Flying Dutchman” like, along our lonely storm-swept beaches?  That’s a question I pondered, too, as I gathered stories for the book. But I never heard a whisper.

The Alice

The Alice, 1909

At the Oysterville cemetery, there is an area of graves specifically for unidentified bodies that have washed up on the beach near here. The phrase from Revelation 20:13 “and the sea gave up the dead that were in it” is written on the marker. But, to my knowledge, there have never been reports of hauntings by these (or any other) unknown sailors. It seems curious.

I’m eager to learn what my interviewer will make of my answers to his questions. Looking forward to tomorrow’s article gives an added dimension to trick-or-treat… at least for me.

Issue after Issue on Wednesdays!

Thursday, October 9th, 2014

 

Maggie in her Kitchen

Maggie in her Kitchen

The Chinook Observer comes on Wednesdays and now that Nyel and I are shut-ins (well, Nyel for sure but me not so much) it’s our window to the local world. It’s where we learn who’s doing what, possibly to whom, and what all we are missing out on beyond the confines of our immediate neighborhood.

This week I was delighted to see that two people we know are featured prominently – Maggie Stuckey, in the cover story on the Coast Weekend insert, and Bud Goulter, on the front of the second section of the paper, “Peninsula Life.”  We knew the Maggie story was coming, but the Bud feature came as a complete surprise.

Cate Gable had been in touch with me and with other ‘authors’ of recipes in Maggie’s book Soup Night, asking if we would agree to gather for a picture for the article she was writing about Maggie and her book. There was a vague plan to gather in front the Shelburne (David Campiche is another of the recipe donors) at the photographer’s convenience. The next we heard, though, was that Alex Pajunas (the aforementioned photographer) had run Maggie down at her place in Portland and so we would not be needed.

I was delighted – not only to see Maggie’s smiling face but to get a little glimpse of her other residence. And, of course to drool over the thought of going to the Fort George Brewery tonight at 7:00 to sample soups “on tap” and hear another of Maggie’s delightful presentation. Unfortunately, I can drool until I’m awash and I’ll not be able to attend but both Nyel and I wish her well and hope that she sells many books – for the sake of the buyers as well as for the author! It is a fabulous book!

Bud at the Cemetery

Bud at the Cemetery

The story about Bud was another matter entirely. The last time Bud was at our house, he scolded me in no uncertain terms about having talked to the paper about our cemetery and probably causing the latest round of vandalism there. “Your picture was right there in the article,” he said. I was mystified until I realized that it was a picture I had taken, not a picture of me.”

And after all that, here is a huge picture of Bud, himself, (and other pictures of the Oysterville Cemetery, too) in an article titled “Cemetery Residents Live on in Bud Goulter’s Heart.” It was an article by Natalie St. John and I just had to smile. I am sure that Bud complained not only to me, but to the newspaper, as well, about her first article – the one in which I was quoted, presumably causing the metal thieves to target our cemetery. How clever it was that they made him the feature this time… Maybe that, indeed, was what our wily old neighbor was after!

Oh my! Did I really say that?

The Season Begins

Saturday, May 24th, 2014
Memorial Day in Oysterville

Memorial Day in Oysterville

Like beach areas everywhere in our country, Tourist Season officially begins today, the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. There is some irony in that situation, at least as far as Oysterville is concerned. This particular weekend has a very local focus and doesn’t have much to do with tourists at all.

It is traditionally the weekend of our Annual Everything Meetings – the Oysterville Water company usually (but not this year) meets at nine o’clock at the church followed by the Oysterville Restoration Foundation and then the President’s Picnic for everyone in town.

The Memorial Day Weekend was chosen at “meeting day” back in the seventies because it was the weekend that property owners in the National Historic District were sure to be here. Whether folks with Oysterville roots lived locally or at a distance, they made a point of being in town for the yearly gathering at the cemetery to clean-up the graves and to decorate them for the holiday. It was the one time of the year that every house in Oysterville was sure to have someone in residence.

Memorial Day at the Oysterville Cemetery

Memorial Day at the Oysterville Cemetery

That’s not so true anymore – not since many of the properties have been acquired by those without local roots – at least not roots that extend to the Oysterville Cemetery. The upshot is that our meetings are not as well attended. On the other hand, the Memorial Day Celebrations on Monday have grown to include the ‘Greater Oysterville Area’ and, thanks to Diane Buttrell, have become the true focus of the weekend.

Festivities begin at the cemetery with a short program in conjunction with the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ traditional lowering and raising of the flag. Some years a bugler is present to play taps for that part of the ceremony and, if that is not enough to cause the tears to flow, Dobby Wiegardt’s reading of the Gettysburg Address followed by Nyel’s recitation of “In Flanders Fields” put most people right over the edge. To say nothing of those who speak about their loved ones, past and present, who have served in the name of our country.

The graveside ceremony is followed by a gathering at the church and topped off with a brunch at the Oysterville School – all well-attended and all orchestrated by Diane with lots of help from community members. I do believe it now qualifies as Oysterville’s Biggest Day of the year.

So perhaps, after all, it is a fitting kick-off to the Tourist Season. It’s our last opportunity of the year to have the village (mostly) to ourselves and to those near and dear to us. The next big season – Hunting Season – doesn’t have quite the same draw, at least not for many of our newer residents. But that’s another story…

Captain Stream Under Siege

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
Oysterville Cemetery Lot 6, 1978

Oysterville Cemetry Lot 6, 1978

Nyel and I have been working up at the Oysterville Cemetery finishing up a mapping project that I began almost two years ago.  It has involved finding and recording every single stone and marker, making sure the Oysterville Cemetery Associations’s records match with reality.

In the process, we have found that the years are taking their toll.  Many of the gravestones are gradually sinking into the sandy soil; in the shady places, the moss is several inches thick on tombstone bases; some of the oldest stones are so weathered that the words are now difficult to read.  And there is evidence of vandalism – not, thank goodness, anything recent; just the continued absence of the lovely wrought iron fences that once graced certain lots.

Take Lot 6, for instance.  That is the burial site of Captain Stream and his family – one of the largest and, once-upon-a-time, the loveliest of the entire graveyard.  That was in my childhood but, even then, I realized that it was a very special place to spend eternity.

By 1978, though, when Larry Weathers drew pictures of all the pioneer graves, only the stanchions that supported the large-linked iron chain fence were left at the site.  Now, they too are gone.  And to make matters worse, the large marble stone – the signature marker – has come off its base and is propped up several feet away from where it belongs.

Captain Stream House, cartoon

Captain Stream House

In town, the Captain Stream memory is equally “under siege” – or at least that’s the way I feel about it.  Martie and Steve, the new owners of his little house are in the process of upgrading it by constructing a beautifully conceived addition.  However, when the got ‘into’ the process (literally), they discovered that the original house is riddled with powder post beetles and who knows what else.

It’s a miracle is is still standing – one of those “only held together by the layers of paint” situations.  While they consult with the historic preservation folks and examine next logical steps, the poor old house is only partially clothed in siding.  We are all devastated at this turn of events and it seems like the village is holding its collective breath to see what happens next.

Captain Stream House, December 2013

Captain Stream House, December 2013

I wonder what the Stream family would think of all this.  Captain Stream was a decorated hero of the Life Saving Service and became a realtor when he retired.  He moved across the bay about 1890, joining forces with other promoters who dreamed of making the little sawmill settlement of South Bend “the Baltimore of the Pacific.”  Within three years their efforts had resulted in getting the bay’s name changed to “Willapa” and the county seat moved to South Bend, much to the distress of Oysterville’s citizenry.

It is my belief that their house in Oysterville was a summer place after 1890.  Nevertheless, they must have had a continuing presence in Oysterville.  My grandmother spoke in her letters to Medora about going on a picnic to Long Island with the Stream family; when their son Tom was drowned in 1914 she wrote about attending the funeral; and when Stream was elected to the Washington State Legislature she wrote resignedly that he wasn’t “a bad, bad man.”  (Presumably he did not agree with my grandfather politically.)

I do hope that the “Captain Stream problems” will eventually be solved in a way that preserves his memory and enhances the historic village and cemetery.   Stay tuned…

Dressing Up for Decoration Day

Sunday, May 26th, 2013

IMG_0920Today we are taking flowers up to the Espy section of the cemetery in preparation for tomorrow’s Memorial Day observances.  For as long as anyone can remember, this is the weekend that Oysterville people spend time cleaning up their family plots – sweeping away pine needles and scrubbing moss from tombstones and placing flowers on the graves of loved ones.

For us, that takes a lot of flowers.  There are far more people below ground in the Espy family than there are walking around above it.  And, since Nyel and I are the only family members who live full-time in Oysterville, it falls to us to gather the flowers, put them in water and lug them up to the cemetery.  It’s a big job but, somehow, I look forward to it each year.

When I was a child, we called it “Decoration Day” and, even though we knew it was a day set aside for remembering those who had died in the service of our country, we decorated all our family graves.  Never mind that we had no one who fit the proper category until my mother’s first cousin, Cecil Jefferson Espy, Jr. died in a Japanese prison camp in 1945.  After that, we decorated all the family graves “in Cecil’s” honor, which is still the case though there is no gravestone in our cemetery plot for him.

It probably stands to reason that my first clear memory of Decoration Day is of going up to the cemetery in 1948 with my mother and my grandmother.  I was twelve and my mother and I were spending the year in Oysterville while my dad sold our house in California and began a new career.  It was the only year I was here in May until I moved here permanently thirty years later.

By then, we were calling it “Memorial Day” and it was no longer observed on May 30th but was celebrated on the last Monday of May, no matter what the date.  Which was fine with me.  My son had been born was born on May 30, 1956 so, from the time he was twelve, he’s had that date in May all to himself, at least in our family.

Nevertheless, I’ve always felt badly that Memorial Day and all the rest of our federally recognized “official holidays” have been changed to Mondays to become part of a three-day weekend.  The best spin I can put on it is that Congress and President Lyndon Johnson had good intentions and didn’t realize that those holidays would morph into three-day vacations and shopping extravaganzas, ultimately detracting from the purpose of the day.

Peace FlagHere in Oysterville, the cemetery and the town are also awash with American flags.  The VFW places a small flag on the grave of each person who served in the armed services, whether or not they died in the line of duty.  I’m not sure why that is.  I believe it is Veteran’s Day on November 11th that is set aside for all those who served, and Memorial Day commemorates those who died while in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.

There are larger flags all over town, too.  The biggest ones are part of Bradley’s flag collection – a huge one on the Andrews Garage and a very large one with 45 stars on the front of his house.  Next door to us, a real estate company has put flags all along fence line.  The flags at the Oysterville Church are flying and there are flags in the windows at the store.   Oysterville is definitely all decked out for Memorial Day.