Black Diamond Cemetery - Black Diamond, WA
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 18.694 W 122° 01.026
10T E 574289 N 5240256
Through the variety of nationalities and the dates of deaths, the cemetery of Black Diamond records the mining town's rich history. The cemetery holds approximately 1200 graves and is still used today.
Waymark Code: WM375H
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 02/21/2008
Views: 81
The city of Black Diamond was started out back in the 1880's as a company mining town, primarily filled with Italian and Welsh miners. It grew rapidly and in 1900 had 4,000 citizens. This cemetery, run by the city, was created in 1884, the year the mine officially opened.
If you wander its graves you will see names the record the rich diversity of this immigrant town - Italian, Polish, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Swedish... You will also notice clusters of deaths on specific years marking epidemics and also mine disasters, of which there were several.
The mines shut down in 1958 as oil became the nations primary heating and energy source and in 1959 the city, now no longer a company town, incorporated. Today the city has approximately 3,500 citizens. Their mining and railroading history has been well preserved in the Black Diamond museum, located in the original train depot. Another gem is the Black Diamond Bakery, still using a wood fired stove to bake its famous bread.
To learn more you can read an essay about the cemetery or one on the history of the town on historylink.org.
I grew up in this little town and so in the gallery you will see photos of both older interesting headstones, and also ones of my great grandparents, friends of my parents, and parent's of school classmates.