The Tour of Untimely Departures
- Mr. and Mrs. Fancy Pants! And our sweet friend creepin’ in our photo at Lone Fir Cemetery.
I hope that everyone had a very happy Halloween. We were pretty low key last night. We did our costumin’ on Saturday night. We did make one pretty great stop yesterday evening. We met some awesome friends at Lone Fir Cemetery for The Tour of Untimely Departures. Here was the description of the evening:
Meet some of Lone Fir’s “residents” at their graves and hear the unusual circumstances surrounding their untimely departures. Ghostly guides will also share some of the history on Lone Fir as they take you through the cemetery on a path lit with candles.
Not going to lie, it was really neat. They had candles in brown bags, jack-o-lanterns, and torches all over the place which made it a little erie but mainly really beautiful. I have driven by the cemetery several times but knew nothing about it. Our friends told us about the event tonight and we thought it would be a fun thing to try out! Lone Fir is Portland’s oldest cemetery, on the National Register of Historic Places, and home to over 25,000 burials. Our guide also told us that the cemetery alone has over 100 species of trees and 100 species of birds living among its 30 acres.
They had actors dressed up like a lot of the “residents” who told the stories of their lives and how they died. A lot of them were connected (father, daughter, cousin, etc.) which made for an interesting story as we wove through the cemetery. It was really dark by the time we got started so the only light was from the candles and torches. I probably would have been a little scared had there not been such a large crowd just on the other side of the fence waiting for their turn inside. They didn’t allow any pictures so the one above is the only one I snapped. I would have loved to take a few pictures of the “actors”. They looked amazing.
For me it was the perfect blend of history and spooky. Not jump out of your skin scary but still a little erie. And I learned a lot which I always like! I am very curious as to where the Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery got their information/research on the residents. That I would like to know! They knew so much about their lives and death. It was really interesting. AND at the very end, they had some volunteers from The Audubon Society of Portland there with two REAL OWLS! I’ve never seen one that close before. They were beautiful! That’s what I love about this city. You attend one amazing event and they’re pointing you towards the next! My next stop: The Audubon!
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I went to high school right across the street from here, I never knew they did this. Thanks 🙂