Mrs. Shively and Her Grave

OK, yes. This is weird. Thank you, Stephanie Roley, for sending this photo (see yesterday's post). What appears to be Mrs. Shively posing in front of her own tomb is actually an actor dressed up for a special occasion. Stephanie wrote: "Here's another one from Pioneer Cemetery that I posted on Facebook after the annual Halloween cemetery event. Now I can't even remember which historic group sponsors the event, but they dress in character and have interesting stories about some of the people buried there. As you can tell from the photo, this lady was not very nice (Mrs. Shiveley I believe)."

Tomorrow we'll move on to a new subject, but I couldn't resist giving this photo a day of its own. Thanks, Stephanie!

Revisited January 9, 2012: If you enjoy cemeteries or find them creepy or both, please check out Julie's new Taphophile Tragics blog and meme. Enjoy  :-)

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

A Strange Mausoleum

Astoria, Oregon ~ June 10, 2010

I encountered this unusual-looking mausoleum at the edge of Pioneer Cemetery, scene of yesterday's post. It is the burial place, or at least the memorial for the Shively family (inscriptions given here). I don't mean any disrespect, but cemeteries can be odd and interesting places, and as I wandered I through, approaching from the back (last photo), I thought I had found the gardener's shed, except that the windows to the inside were in the form of crosses.

Embedded in the front are memorial plaques to members of the family. This one is on the left of the rusted iron door (which did not open).

This plaque was on the right.

Here are two of the three crosses above the door.

And a tombstone to the left buried in the roots of the tree and barely visible among the vines that cover the uneven ground. Perhaps it wasn't visible at all until volunteers from the high school cleaned the stones recently. Stephanie, who lives across the street, mentioned the cleanup.

This was my first glimpse. I had wandered across the hilly and uneven ground of the cemetery from one corner to the other. Most of the stones are flat or square, with the exception of a couple of taller monuments like the one for the Warren family. This is the only building. Except for the crosses, it could almost be a tool shed. It looks like it belongs in a Gothic novel.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

12th Street and Grand . . . the path to where?

No, the street sign is not misplaced. Behind me, 12th Street continues up the hill like any normal residential street. In front of me, it takes off on a narrow path through the berry bushes for one short block. Oddly, I've never followed it. Until I looked at the street sign today, I believe I thought it was private property. Taking notice, I stopped and wondered what the path was like, but as I had to meet someone on the street in about one minute and I didn't want him to drive on and miss me, I continued along on Grand. I can't picture what the other end of the path looks like, so I'll make a point of finding it.

There is history here, too. Thirteenth Street was the dividing line between land owned by John Shively and John McClure, both of whom arrived in Astoria in 1843 with land claims filed in Washington, D.C. The story goes that the men didn't like each other and could not agree on what size a lot should be. Because of this, the lots west of 13th ("McClure's Astoria") and east of 13th ("Shively's Astoria") did not align evenly, and you can still see a number of odd curves in certain streets and other streets that don't go through from one block to the next. Thirteenth Street is only half a block long in the downtown area, with another block made into a narrow passageway. But in the residential section, 13th Street doesn't exist at all. There's a very wide block between 12th and 14th Streets, with the cross street of Grand stopping and starting again at a different latitude. Someone connected the pieces with this intriguing leafy path.

My thought for Think Green Thursday is this: Wouldn't it be "grand" if half our city streets looked like this? Maybe we'd all be walking more!

The first U.S. Post Office west of the Rocky Mountains

The post office is gone now, and a green park takes its place on the hillside on 15th Street between Exchange and Franklin; it's only a short block from the buildings that commemorate the site of Fort Astoria. The park is only the size of . . . I was tempted to say, "a postage stamp," but I won't. It's about the size of a lot for a small single-family home. It even has a white picket fence along the sidewalk. The two markers here look like gravestones, but they're not. The tall one says only, "Site of United States Post Office 1847." The plaque on the ground is more elaborate, and actually shows a bas relief image of the post office, a two-storey building. It says, "Site of the First United States Post Office West of the Rocky Mountains - John M. Shiveley Appointed First Postmaster by President Polk 1847 - Presented by Astoria Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution August 24, 1955." The park is lovely and quiet up above the river. I doubt many people visit, as it's in an area where businesses fade into the residential backdrop. I only noticed it myself this month after years of walking around town. It's surprising what you can find when you're looking for blog material. I love that aspect of taking part in City Daily Photo.

We've had mostly sun and blue skies the past few days, and the rhododendrons are blooming like crazy - a few as tall as trees and as big as the beast of Baluchistan (but more colorful).

Does your city have a famous "ancient" landmark?