Howell Prairie Cemetery - near Salem, Oregon
Posted by: 
shadow101
N 44° 59.388 W 122° 55.752
10T E 505581 N 4981819
Historic cemetery off of the Salem-Silverton highway.
Waymark Code: WM5D5M
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/21/2008
Views: 9
While this nice cemetery is now about 1/4 mile from the nearby highway, it was originally along the main road to Portland. This area is a plateau above Salem known as Howell Prairie, named for the family that owned much of the land. One of the Howell family was buried here in 1848, and the family invited the community to use the land as a cemetery. There are roughly 330 graves here.
The older, metal cemetery sign includes the year "1843" which actually refers to the date that John Howell settled in the area known as Howell Prairie; the modern marker reflects the year "1848" when Temperance Howell, John's wife, was the first burial on this 1.5 acre site. Officially named Howell Prairie Cemetery in 1953, through the years it has also been known as Murphy, McCorkle, Hazelgreen and Pudding River Cemetery. One of the more intricate of the older gravestones is the marker for Capt. William Shaw, a veteran of the war of 1812. Shaw later migrated to the Willamette Valley, fought in the Cayuse Indian War and served in 1850 was elected to serve a term in the Territorial Legislature.