Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, previously called The Crawford Cemetery, was established by Colburn Barrell [1824-1902] in 1855 on 10 acre parcel of land. The first burial however dates back to 1846. Emmor Stephens [1777-1846] was buried on a private farm land owned by his son James B Stephens [1806-1889], who sold the property to Colburn Barrell in 1854.
Mr. Barrell, a businessman, owned the steamship Gazelle, that exploded in 1854 killing over 20 people including his partner Crawford Dobbins [1831-1854]. Some of the victims from the explosion are buried on the 10 acre parcel.
Mr. Barrell added another 20 acres to the cemetery land and sold it to private investors in 1866, who renamed the cemetery Lone Fir Cemetery after a single lone fir tree on the land.
Multnomah County took over the cemetery in 1928, but sold it to Metro in 2007. The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year.
Lone Fir Cemetery is the oldest and the largest cemetery in Portland, OR, with some 25,000 recorded burials including politicians, notable people, soldiers from the Indian Wars, Mexican-American War, Civil War and the Spanish-American War to name a few. The cemetery is also an arboretum with 67 species of trees.
Not only does it have incredible trees, but the grave stones are among some of the most beautiful ones I have seen.
Lone Fir Cemetery is said to be haunted. Walking around the cemetery, the energy felt peaceful and calm. Even though I did get some responses on the voice recorder, that doesn't mean the cemetery is haunted necessarily.
Psychic Medium Jennifer Von Behren felt that the overall feel of the cemetery is very good with some patchy spots with "weird" energy.
It is possible that those areas may have some paranormal activity.
One of the questionable areas may be the SW corner of the cemetery called Block 14. It was a Chinese burial ground for the immigrant workers, that was paved over in 1947, but not all the remains were moved leaving some under the pavement. The pavement and the office built on it was later moved.
Block 14 is also, where over 130 patients from the Oregon Hospital for the insane were buried in unmarked graves by Dr. James C. Hawthorne [1818-1891], a co-founder of the hospital.
Many movie scenes have been filmed at the Lone Fir Cemetery.
Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery, created in 2000, is dedicated to education, preservation and restoration of the cemetery.
You can find event and tour information on their website at www.friendsoflonefircemetery.org.
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