History with a Hint of Mystery: A Visit to Old Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery

Discover the stories of the past at historic cemeteries like Old Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery on Oregon’s Adventure Coast: Coos Bay, North Bend, and Charleston.

Want to know a secret most people don’t know? Sure, most visitors come to Oregon’s Adventure Coast: Coos Bay, North Bend, Charleston for the….well…adventure: you know, beaches, dunes, fishing, crabbing, clamming, hiking, and all the good stuff. But there’s also a mysterious and sometimes haunting history here waiting to be explored.

You see, from the first settlement established at Empire City in 1853 to the once-bustling maritime hub of Marshfield (now Coos Bay), Oregon’s Adventure Coast is rich with American history. And if you are a local history buff, there are many ways to discover its incredible stories and culture , whether it’s touring the Coos History Museum or the self-guided walking tours of Historic Coos Bay and Historic North Bend .

But one of the most unexpected places to discover our local history and gain a more personal perspective on the generations that shaped Oregon’s Adventure Coast is beyond the grave: our local cemeteries.

It may surprise you to learn there are nearly a hundred cemeteries across Coos County alone! Of course, not all of them are places you can just wander into. Many are located on private property or are older family plots where headstones have long since disappeared. But if you’re curious about the ones you can explore, local photographer Steven Michael has you covered. In his post,Eight Coos County Cemeteries , he highlights a handful of intriguing public sites and brings them to life with beautiful photography.

In this post, we’re highlighting the historic Old Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery , located at 750 S 7th St. in Coos Bay (adjacent to Marshfield High School). At first glance, it may look as if there is not much happening here, but there’s a lot of local history hiding in these four acres of green space. Every headstone tells a story—some tragic, others curious— about the generations of people who helped shape the region we know today.

Established in 1888 by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), the cemetery now features helpful interpretive panels that make it a perfect destination for locals, visitors, and history buffs alike. Some of the panels even include old newspaper headlines about real events: mining accidents, shipwrecks, and disease outbreaks, which offer a perspective on just some of the challenges early residents faced.

As you wander the grounds, you’ll notice beautiful Victorian-era marble headstones, a 1915 monument honoring Civil War veterans, and even an elegant angel statue marking the grave of the man known as the “Father of Marshfield.” Every corner reveals a piece of the community’s past.

WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE

From marble and granite to the occasional cast-iron marker, Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery has some of the best examples of historic headstone styles you’ll find in the area. One of the features that really sets this cemetery apart is the large number of plots surrounded by decorative curbing. It’s a detail you don’t see much anymore, and it actually helped the site earn a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery recently received a $10,000 grant from Oregon Heritage , a division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), for historic properties and archaeology projects. The grant award is to help continue work on the monument repair and leveling at the cemetery. The Marshfield Cemetery volunteers have been managing a campaign to complete the repairs.

Add in the fact that many of Coos Bay and North Bend’s most influential early residents are buried here, and you’ve got a place where local history truly comes to life. The cemetery has more than 2,000 gravesites that date back to pre-Civil War times, with buried lives ranging from early settlers to children who died from disease.

You will find the graves of:

• Chief Daloose Jackson, who died in 1907. A native Coos Indian, he lived peacefully among settlers, spoke the Hanis language, and until recently, his grave was unmarked.
• Veterans whose service dates from the Indian Wars of the 1850s to World War II. There are Civil War veterans too: 56 Union and 4 Confederate.
• The lost men of the 1910 shipwreck of the Czarina. Only one out of twenty-four aboard survived. Six of the lost are buried in an unmarked section of this cemetery, and not all were positively identified.
• *Ethel Jane Galbraith. She died in August 1906 when she drowned while bathing in the Coos River near Allegany. For reasons unknown, her headstone’s red polished marble slab specifically states “while bathing.”
• *Abraham Lincoln. No, not the U.S. President. This Abraham, the son of Parker and Mary Butler, died in a drowning accident in 1869 at age 3. His body was never found. Four years later, his father was lost at sea in a shipping accident.
• *Siblings Clyde Young and Erma Young. Clyde died at age 2 in 1883, and Erma at age 1 in 1886. Their double headstone predates the cemetery’s formal establishment (1891), so they were likely moved from another burial site and re-interred here when other siblings were buried in December 1889. Less than a month later, their mother, Ella, died of heart failure (or heartbreak) and rests beside them in an unmarked grave.
• Emil Heuckendorff. A talented ship designer who helped shape Coos Bay’s maritime industry, first working with the Simpson Lumber Company and later opening his own shipyards in Marshfield, North Bend, and Prosper. He built more than a dozen vessels in his career. He died unexpectedly at the age of 57 in 1908.
• Henry Wickman. A Coos Bay native who served in the U.S. Life-Saving Service, Wickman died during a heroic rescue attempt of the steamer Argo near Tillamook in 1909. His body was never recovered, but his memorial here honors his bravery and sacrifice.

*Buried in the north east corner of the cemetery:

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY?

While there is no verified or widely documented paranormal activity at the cemetery, numerous local tales and rumored “ghost stories” are associated with the historic grounds. For example, some Marshfield High School staff have reported hearing mysterious “creaks,” “voices,” and other unexplained noises late at night, citing the school’s proximity to the cemetery.

According to Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery spokesperson Cricket Soules, there is a history of unusual occurrences at the cemetery. One well-known example, as documented in Steven Michael’s post, involves a small plastic Pegasus toy that was initially left at a child’s grave. It would disappear…then mysteriously reappear at another child’s headstone. Even today, visitors say the little Pegasus still moves around the cemetery from time to time.

BEFORE YOU GO

• Stop by the Coos Bay Visitor Center for the gate code, tips, and resources.
• Pick up or download the Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery Map to guide your visit.
• Visit the Coos History Museum to learn more about shipwrecks, Civil War prison escapees, and the immigrants who helped shape this region.

PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL

When exploring a historic cemetery, it’s important to remember you’re walking through a place of deep meaning. Stay on established paths and avoid stepping directly on graves whenever possible. Please don’t touch or lean on older headstones—they can be fragile and easily damaged. Leave flowers, flags, and mementos where loved ones placed them, keep noise to a minimum, and supervise children and pets closely. Most of all, treat the site with the same dignity and care you would want for the resting places of your own family.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery on Facebook
• Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery: Remembering the Stories That Built Coos Bay
• City of Coos Bay: Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery
• Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery Index of Burials
• Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery Map
• TripAdvisor
• Mindtrip: Marshfield Pioneer Cemetery
• The World Link: Imagination runs wild in a strange place
• Wanderlog.com
• WikiTree.com

Come for a visit this fall to explore more of Oregon’s Adventure Coast and it’s compelling history! Visit our lodging page to search through the great options of hotels and inns in the area. For more travel inspiration, visit our Adventures page and our Trip Ideas page to discover all there is to do on Oregon’s Adventure Coast, or request a visitor’s packet today !