Ashland Cemetery - Ashland, OR
N 42° 11.652 W 122° 42.294
10T E 524365 N 4671380
This pioneer cemetery is located on E Main and Morton Streets.
Waymark Code: WMN278
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/11/2014
Views: 1
Ashland Pioneer Cemetery is located in the heart of Ashland and contains graves of the first settlers in Ashland. The following text is taken from the NRHP nomination form to describe its significance:
The Ashland Cemetery, established for the public in 1873, is locally significant as the burial ground of early Euro-American settlers of Ashland, Oregon and its immediate environs. Submitted as part of a multiple part of a multiple property submission, "Historic Cemeteries of Ashland, Oregon and Environs, 1851-1925," Ashland Cemetery meets the registration requirements set forth in the registration document. Is was established and developed during the historic period, 1851 to 1925, has retained its integrity of setting, location design and materials, and evokes its historic associations. The cemetery is eligible for the National register of Historic Places under Criteria Consideration D, Criterion A for its associations with individuals importantly involved in the area's early period of settlement between 1851 and 1880. The cemetery is additionally eligible under Criterion B as the burial place of Lindsey Applegate, prominent Oregon settler who, with others, opened a southern overland route into Oregon, known as the Applegate Trail, and who significantly advanced Ashland area development. The cemetery's period of significance comprises the years 1860 to 1910, when many of the first generation settlers were interred and during which the cemetery's setting and monumentation were established.
Ashland Cemetery began as a small graveyard on a donation land claim and gradually expanded in size through the years. Prior to the cemetery's founding, Ashland area families buried their dead on the gentle rises and knolls of individual farms. Platted in 1880 by the Town Trustees of Ashland, the cemetery provided a much needed burial ground as the population grew. Ashland Cemetery is distinct in size and age from Mountain View Cemetery (also in Ashland) which was platted in 1904. The latter burial ground was laid out on ten acres of land selected specifically for cemetery purposes. At 4.64 acres in size, Ashland Cemetery clearly contains the largest number of early Ashland burials.
A walk through this cemetery will give the visitor a good idea of many historical graves to appreciate here, including its most notable grave, that of Lindsey Applegate.