Willard Pioneer Cemetery

On a Memorial Day drive we kind of just, stumbled across this old cemetery and thought it was pretty neat.

The sign.

Neat old pavilion.

Robin perched on a monument.

There were only a couple tombstones, and they were very hard to read. I think most of them date back to the 1860’s.

Beautiful central garden patch. As you can see most of the lot behind it is pretty empty.

I think I got a picture of all of the tombstones located here, they are quite sparse and separated.

Historical placard.

It would seem there was a flood in 1923 that decimated the cemetery and sent the tombstones, and even the remains downstream to the west of town. They did what they could to bring what they could back, remains were put in a mass grave and markers were put them back into as close to the original locations as possible, but a lot was lost. They know 150 people were buried here, but only know 110 of the names.

Wow, that is pretty intense. Definitely explains why the cemetery seems so sparse. Not everything is lost by man, nature takes a lot away too, and sometimes man does what we can to restore, preserve, and remember. I will have to do my best to remember that every time I get upset that another piece of history is being torn down.

Mountains above.

Well that was a neat side adventure, and what an appropriate weekend to do so. I know cemetery's are not for everyone, but we like history, and I’m a little on the spooky side so we find them fun. If you do as well, we have visited a couple different ones. My personal favorite is In Echo, then there is all that remains of the ghost town of Iosepa, a small one on Antelope Island, and another in Gold Beach, Oregon (as surprising as it is to see a Pioneer Cemetery in Oregon of all places)!

I definitely wouldn’t drive all the way out here to see this, but if you happen to be in the area, and this is your thing, it is certainly worth a stop.