The Trees of Lone Fir

Today was a beautiful summer day - no wait, it's still spring, but it sure felt like summer since it was 80 degrees! I noticed on a walk I took the other day that all the trees have filled out at Lone Fir, so I packed my camera and headed over there.  On the way I noticed this rope swing in someone's front yard.  We used to have one as kids.  It brought back nice memories.  Funny how some little things can do that.

 I also noticed this really cool fence that someone made from recycled metal parts, like old water faucet handles.  

I also decided to find out more about the white bicycles you see around town, since there is one right at the corner of Lone Fir Cemetery, at 26th and Stark, which I've always wondered about.  I found out these are called "Ghost Bikes."  They are memorials to bicyclists who died from being hit by a motorist at that location.  This ghost bike is for a young man named Nick Bucher who was only 24 years old.  Here's the  link to his memorial, and the Ghost Bike website.  They have been placed all over the world. You can click on a map of Portland and identify who the bikes at various locations are for.

Did you know that the cemetery used to be called Mt. Crawford?  In 1866, when a group of investors purchased the cemetery from Colburn Barrell, they renamed it to Lone Fir, as there was only a single fir tree at the site.  I think the trees of Lone Fir are special, so today my focus is on them, instead of the people who are buried there. Now that it's spring, the trees have new leaves and some are in bloom. It's absolutely beautiful!  The grass is also blooming, with tiny daisies decorating many of the graves. 

I love the fact that we have Flowering Dogwood trees here in Portland.  They are so gorgeous.  Spring first began with daffodils blooming, followed by the cherry trees, then dogwoods, lilacs and tulips.  Next it will be the peonies.  All my favorites!

This next tree is a chestnut tree. 

 I love the large upright clusters of pink blossoms they have.

Their leaves are similar to the horse chestnut, or buckeye tree, which has white blossoms.  There are many of those at Lone Fir, too. In the fall the ground is littered with the fallen nuts, inedible to us, but not to the squirrels!

 

And speaking of squirrels, they are all over Lone Fir.  Squirrels, and also ravens.  I noticed what looked like a squirrel chasing a raven, and I stopped to watch.  It was hilarious!  Apparently someone put peanuts out for the squirrels, and every time the squirrel would go bury one of them, a raven would follow him to eat it for himself.  The squirrel did not like that!  He kept chasing the ravens away, but they just followed him wherever he went. Here are some pictures of them...

"I can get my own, but the squirrel's taste better."

"Go away, raven - I mean it!"

"Get out of here.  That's my peanut!"

"Are those pesky ravens gone?"

On July 24, 2010, The City of Portland designated three trees in the 30-acre cemetery as Heritage Trees. Heritage trees are those that are regarded as being of "special importance to the city" because of "their age, size, type, historical association or horticultural value." Those three are the cemetery's namesake Douglas fir; the General Joseph Lane maple; and a 100-foot incense cedar.  The Portland Parks and Recreation website lists all of the Heritage Trees in Portland, with maps, in their Heritage Tree Guidebook.  Lone Fir's can be found on page 31.

Here is the Douglas Fir the cemetery is named for.

 This is the General Joseph Lane maple tree.

It is so large I couldn't photograph the whole thing at one time.  I did lay down to get this photograph looking up into the tree.  This is still only a small part, maybe one-fourth, of the foilage.  It's really amazing!

And this is the heritage Incense Cedar...

This tree has such beautiful vertical lines on the bark.

 

Some other (non-Heritage) trees have identification tags, like this Youngs Weeping Birch. There are quite a few of them.  Most have the knobby, uneven trunks like the one below.

But just look at the foilage - beautiful!

I did recognize some trees on my own, that were not identified with any markers of any kind, like this Ginko Biloba. According to Wikipedia, "Ginkgo, also spelled gingko and known as the maidenhair tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives. The ginkgo is a living fossil, recognizably similar to fossils dating back 270 million years."  Many of you may be familiar with it because of herbal supplements of Ginko, which are supposed to help with memory and circulation, among other things. I've always loved Ginko since I was a little girl in Pennsylvania, because of its delicate, fan-shaped leaves that turn yellow in the fall.

This is one of the tallest, thinnest Ginko trees I have ever seen.  It's the one directly in the middle.

Easy to identify by these special fan-shaped leaves.
Also easy to identify is the Japanese Maple.  Their delicate, lacy leaves and shapely silhouettes make them stand out.

The finches were happy in this holly tree with the many red berries to eat, but flitted around too much for me to catch them in a photo. Maybe I could have been more patient if it wasn't so hot outside.

I also enjoyed the camellia trees, which, heretofore, I only thought of as bushes, but they are considered trees.

And of course, the "Rhodies" or Rhododendron, which I just found out are also considered trees, not bushes.  They are blooming in all colors all over Portland.  I love it!

I really liked how the trunks looked like sculptures, artfully arranged.  But, the flowers were the best part.

On my way home from Lone Fir, I came across several TVs, couches and other junk that people had put on the curb, hoping someone would want their discards.  I admit, sometimes you can find some cool stuff on the street, but it should be obvious that nobody would want this gigantic TV, which probably even got rained on at some point!

I hope the person saw this and disposed of it properly.  Go, Rid Patrol!  A few blocks later I came across a woman walking her pet turtle in the street.  Too funny!  Apparently she takes him on daily walks like this.  Only in Portland!

Today I visited Lone Fir with a mission; I was looking for two graves to photograph so I could fulfill a request for someone on the "Findagrave.com" website.  In my last post I mentioned that my research into some graves I had photographed here at Lone Fir, led me to a great website called "Find A Grave.com".  There I found the 'virtual' graves of some of my loved-ones, where I was able to write something for them and post pictures as well. This week was my father's birthday, and it was so nice to be able to leave a message on his virtual grave, since I'm too far away to visit his actual grave!
    
I signed up as a volunteer to take pictures for other people who wanted photos of  graves, but live too far away to do it themselves. It allows you to choose cemeteries in your geographic area that you're willing to go to, and you can fulfill one request, one-hundred requests, or none at all - there is no pressure.
    
Unfortunately, today on my first such mission, I was unable to find the graves I was asked to photograph.  Decay, neglect and poor record keeping in the early years have led to an estimated 10,000 unknown graves out of a total of 25,000 graves here at Lone Fir. It's not surprising, with how old the cemetery is. As you can see from this photo, there are large areas where there no longer are any markers or headstones to be seen. This is the area where I was supposed to find these two graves. 

The raven kept trying
to tell me it was this one,
but he can't read!    :-))



There can be several reasons for no headstone. Perhaps none was purchased. Perhaps weather and decay have eroded it. Or, sadly, perhaps vandals damaged or stole it! Later in this post I'll tell you about one such monument. The other culprit is what takes each and every one of us, and that is time.  Some markers have been swallowed up over time by the earth, which you can see happening to these..

 Going...

 going...

almost completely gone.

I was sorry that I was unable to fulfill the request of these people who asked for pictures of their relatives' final resting place. For them there is no name, date of birth, date of death or tribute to them as beloved mother, beloved father, etc.  Just grass, weeds and a plot number on some map in cemetery records.

 Now this person's grave is well marked, in two ways! They have a large headstone, and at one time a very large tree stood right upon them as well.  For whatever reason the tree was cut down, but the stump remains (well, I guess they can't pull out the roots at this time, can they?)

I find it kind of disconcerting that so many of the graves at Lone Fir have trees right on them.  It's kind of creepy to think what happened when the roots grew.  Did they go around the coffin, or did they pry it apart and wind their way around the remains? I know it shouldn't matter, but it seems to me that people get buried in a coffin for a reason; to preserve and protect their bodies, and then to have a tree grow right through you?  Doesn't make sense. But I did recently learn of a very cool thing to do with your ashes after you are cremated - become a tree!

"The BiosUrn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose, and inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow. You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer."

For some reason having a person's ashes become a tree seems awesome, but the visual of a person's bones being separated by a tree's roots really seems creepy! I want to be cremated, mainly so nobody feels guilty for being unable to visit my grave after I'm gone.  My parents and grandparents are in a cemetery far, far away from where I live and I'm afraid their gravestones will be all covered up someday and unable to be found, like the ones I looked for today.  I've always felt bad that I couldn't visit them and put flowers on their grave on their birthdays and holidays (well, at least now I learned how I can visit their 'virtual' grave!).  I don't want my children to feel any of this guilt, so I'll have my ashes scattered and truly become 'dust to dust', living on only in photographs and memories - or perhaps I'll become a tree!

Speaking of trees, here's a very large tree that joined with not just one grave, but two. We can see that Fritz was born on July 15 of an unknown year, but we don't know his last name or the date he left us.  These details have been swallowed up by the tree, to remain a mystery forever.

Every time I visit Lone Fir I find more unusual
graves that I missed before.  This is one of them.






What makes it so unusual is that most grave markers or headstones say something about who the person was; beloved father, mother, sister, brother, etc. Or it says how they lived their life; righteous, loving, served his/her country, etc.  Check out what this one says;

"DROWNED, JUNE 19, 1882"   

Why it was decided to make his memorial all about his death makes me wonder; was he always taking chances, living dangerously, doing stupid things?  Was he warned him time and time again to be more careful?  To me, this seems like an "I told you so!"

I have a friend whose husband is always doing things that could get him killed, and one time he almost drowned because of a stupid choice he made that we had warned him not to make, but if he had died, I'm sure my friend wouldn't have put his final mistake on his memorial! There are many tragic ways to die, but that is not what people want to be remembered for.

So, I think this is a very unusual marker, made even more so by the actual depiction of the drowning! Here it is!  See the rowboat, see the waves, see poor Frederic's hands reaching up a final time before the water pulls him under!  Sad, yes, but definitely a very unique gravestone!

Speaking of unique, here is another one that qualifies in this category, albeit, on a happier note. Scrabble lover, Paul G. Lind. Unfortunately, time, and possibly vandals, have removed all the Scrabble tiles that used to be on this headstone, so they painted on his name and dates of birth/death, along with the sentiment "We Miss U". Very clever, very original.  I'd love to see if he could have beat my daughter - she is the queen of Scrabble! 

I really like reading the inscriptions as I wander the cemetery.  Some are thought-provoking, some are famous quotes, and some are just touching sentiments, like this one. 

"We have been separated in this world, but hope to meet in a better one where parting never comes."

 










Or this one saying "I have solved the mystery"  Now if they could only tell us about it...

 
And how about this one, "Rest, Marcia, Rest"  
I know some people have to be told to slow down and rest when they're alive, but after they die?

And finally, "He giveth his beloved sleep." Well, that's apparently what Marcia needed, too. Rest and sleep! May they both be resting (and sleeping) in peace.

This is a good time for me to say that if anyone reading this is an ancestor or family member of one of these deceased, I hope they don't take offense at any of my comments.  I do have the utmost respect for all people, whether they still reside here with us or are now in some other place.  Many people are uncomfortable with anything to do with death or dying.

I lost my parents when they were still quite young.  I prayed for my mother to die quickly so she wouldn't continue to suffer with lung cancer.  I held my father's hand when they removed him from life support and felt his soul leave with the last blip on the heart monitor.  My wonderful brother-in-law died very young in a tragic car accident. My amazing and special grandmother who raised me from an infant came to live in my home for her final days, and surrounded by us, her family, she died peacefully in her sleep. I've lost friends to skydiving accidents, suicide and drug abuse.  I was a hospice volunteer for three years and visited many people in their final days. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am familiar with death, and if I try to lighten it with humor in this blog, I hope no one is hurt or insulted.


Today I noticed three graves together, of three young people, who all died on the same day.  I guessed that they must have been together and died tragically, most likely in a car accident, and that is, sadly, what happened, on May 7, 2006.  Nothing would be harder to bear than to lose a son or daughter, and my heart goes out to their families.  They did give them beautiful grave markers.  I wish I read Russian so I could see what is written on their memorials.  May they rest in peace, and may those they left behind find peace, also. 

This grave caught my attention at first because I wondered what was on it.

Then I noticed this little guy running away as I came closer.  In this section of the cemetery there were a lot of buckeye trees, and many buckeyes on the ground.  Many of the headstones in this area were used by the squirrels and were covered with their debris.

I couldn't help but notice that besides the dead buried under the ground, there were also some dead right on the ground that didn't get a proper burial! Watch where you step!

This is a beautiful headstone, but I'm fond of anything with wings, especially angels and fairies.     

 




























This angel is the monument to a little girl who died when she was just six years old, back in 1885! It has been repeatedly stolen and recovered again (amazing!) and was lovingly restored by the Friends of Lone Fir, a volunteer organization that is dedicated to education, preservation and restoration efforts of this historic cemetery.

Another thing that makes Lone Fir such an interesting cemetery is that people are allowed to personalize the graves.  Here's a very colorful one, surrounded by a white picket fence!

     And this is another one that is quite unique, enclosed with an ornate wrought-iron fence.

Adding to its uniqueness is the large iron cross set in concrete covering the burial plot.










But the MOST unique thing about this grave is the headstone. Read closely!

Some headstones are so plain and simple - right to the point, like this one!