Lost & Forgotten
Lost & Forgotten
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a true history of Snohomish's first cemetery
a true history of Snohomish's first cemetery
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pilchuck River, a sacred burial ground holds a forgotten past.
Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pilchuck River, a sacred burial ground holds a forgotten past.
To Coast Salish families, and later American settlers, it was a place of reverence and rest. In 1876, it became Snohomish County’s first cemetery.
To Coast Salish families, and later American settlers, it was a place of reverence and rest. In 1876, it became Snohomish County’s first cemetery.
But within a few generations, the cemetery was abandoned, its records lost and graves forgotten. Soon, the burial ground had been bulldozed and built over. Local memory held faint traces of what had been. More than a century later, a descendant came looking for ancestors—and instead found a parking lot. Buried beneath was evidence of a past long denied.
But within a few generations, the cemetery was abandoned, its records lost and graves forgotten. Soon, the burial ground had been bulldozed and built over. Local memory held faint traces of what had been. More than a century later, a descendant came looking for ancestors—and instead found a parking lot. Buried beneath was evidence of a past long denied.
This is a story of what the city forgot.
"Fascinating read. I honestly couldn’t put it down. I was amazed by the amount of research that must have gone into it."
-Val
"Taylor Russell has crafted a historical whodunnit, or perhaps who-didn’t-do-it. A complex and tragic history of Snohomish’s pioneer cemetery, and the cost to a community when, in the name of progress, it erases its history... Lost and Forgotten is also the finest history of Snohomish’s early days I have ever read."
-Malcolm
"I just finished reading Taylor 's book and it's truly amazing. The documented footnoted facts are presented with such full color, and great detail and care for everyone above and below ground. I thought I knew something about Snohomish history, but this book showed me I had known so very little. Everyone who remembers 'the halls that surround us here today' and everyone a bit newer to town will gain something from reading Lost & Forgotten."
-Jim
"I'm a notoriously slow reader, but I plowed right through this book. Well done! Seems to me it would have been a lot easier for the Highway Department to apply eminent domain to the couple of blocks between Pine, and Cypress to ease that curve a bit, rather than the horror show that they chose... You devoted a couple of pages to the varying causes of death back in the old days, and, while I'm pretty aware of all the horrible ways people died back then, it was truly breathtaking to have it all concentrated the way you did. Bravo!"
-Jay
"Absolutely splendid work! 12/10 would recommend!"
-Kurt
“There are no unsacred places;
There are only sacred places,
And desecrated places.”
“There are no unsacred places;
There are only sacred places,
And desecrated places.”
-Wendell Berry, "How to Be a Poet"
-Wendell Berry, "How to Be a Poet"
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