A friend of mine posted a photo of this mausoleum on her Flickr account and it was such a fascinating building I had not been privy to in my little city. I asked her where it was and immediately Darren and I had to go on a photo-safari.
It turns out to be at the Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery in the area of 20th/Stark in SE Portland. Upon arrival I was immediately amazed at what a nice, photographically interesting cemetery it was. How had we not known about this???
After wandering around I finally found the building my friend took a picture of. Above is my photographic version of it. It is quite an elaborate mausoleum for a family whose names were barely readable through the fence.
After doing a little research I found out this is the MacLeay mausoleum and has an interesting story:
Donald MacLeay was a wealthy merchant/banker who built the cemetery’s tallest mausoleum for his wife when she died in childbirth. A Scotsman whose family originated in County Ross Shire, the mausoleum resembles the architecture in the area. Built of red sandstone in the neo-Gothixc style,it cost $13,500 to build. The mausoleum was a contributing factor in the cemetery’s being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It has been featured in several movies, including ‘Body of Evidence’ in the 1980’s.
This information was obtained from http://www.friendsoflonefircemetery.org/self.html and the entire cemetery has some notable figures with some very interesting history of the Portland area. If you enjoy cemeteries or history or both, I highly recommend checking this place out. It is not only beautifully maintained and interesting, it is peaceful.
No comments:
Post a Comment