During the pandemic, my blogging pretty much ground to a stop. Instead, I’ve been visiting and researching local cemeteries with my friend and co-author Heide Davis. And now we have a new book: Historic Cemeteries of Portland, Oregon.

We visited 25 places of interment around Portland. We encountered a sea of obelisks and eye-popping sarcophagi at River View. Mountain View Oregon City features the most carefully restored headstones. We marveled at the strangeness of Powell Grove, a small cemetery enclosed within a traffic circle. For each cemetery, we include remarkable headstones, a few bios of notable residents, and as many eerie tales as we could find.

Researching a book during a pandemic was tough, as all the archives were closed. So thank goodness local historians still check their email. People were extremely helpful in sourcing old cemetery photos, proofreading chapters to make sure we got our history straight and giving us tours of their favorite cemeteries. Many knowledgeable folks like cemetery owners and heads of cemetery preservation organizations let us interview them by phone, email or in person.

And so, our book is born. If you’re interested in Portland’s final resting grounds, you can order Historic Cemeteries of Portland, Oregon here.