Enjoy a Eureka moment

Find peaceful reflection at Newport’s Eureka Cemetery

By Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

Have you ever wanted to tour an historic burial ground but thought, not having a loved one or ancestor interred there, that you weren’t welcome? Enter the staff at Lincoln County’s oldest burial ground, the Eureka Cemetery in Newport, who want to take the “scary out of cemetery.”

“It’s beautiful and quiet here and we encourage people to visit,” said Cemetery Manager Debby Miller. “People come and eat their lunch here and we even have dog biscuits for people that come here to walk their dogs.”

The 22-acre property, divided into seven sections, contains the burial sites of many recognizable Newport names, such as founder John Nye, who died in 1911.

“It’s cool for locals to walk around and see all the names like Sam Case and John Nye,” Miller said. “They are like, ‘Oh that’s the name of that elementary school, or that’s that street name that I’ve seen.’ This is a part of our local history.”

Also interred at the cemetery are a large number of military veterans, going back to the Civil War, many of whom have no one to visit and care for their graves.

“We have more than 1,000 veterans buried here,” Miller said. “Every year we find more that we didn’t even know about.”

The cemetery has begun a program to give those veterans a sponsor to visit and tend their burial site. You can either sign up to visit in person, or for a $75 donation to the cemetery, someone will do it for you.

“We only have two sponsors so far,” Miller said. “We’d really love to have more sign up. I think if people just visit us one time and see how lovely it is here, they would be more likely to become a sponsor.”

A more recent way that the cemetery honors its interred veterans is participating in the Wreaths Across America program. (See panel)

“Last year was our first year participating in the wreaths event and we had about 100 wreaths, which was wonderful,” Miller said. “This year we have more than doubled that amount.”

Though unclaimed sites at the cemetery are becoming more expensive, there are roughly 400 still available. And those currently buried at Eureka can also still be joined by their loved ones.

“Urns can be buried where caskets are,” said Susan Painter, vice-president of the cemetery board of directors. “My husband is here, so I’m going to have my urn put in with him.”

There are also opportunities to enhance existing grave sites.

“We had a family on a recent Mother’s Day that bought a headstone for their brother Bobby who was born in 1958 and died in 1960,” Miller said. “Their mother had never stopped coming to visit him, so they all pooled their money together. It meant a lot to their mom to give Bobby a nice grave, even this many years later.”

Ghosts, expected in such a place, do seem to make a bit of mischief: drawers opening and closing, small objects moving. But the theft of a bunch of lawn care equipment had, unfortunately, a corporeal source.

Thankfully, such occurrences are rare, and the cemetery welcomes all to enjoy amenities like the many basalt benches.

“I had one of the benches made in my husband’s memory,” Painter said. “I like to sit on it and visit with him. And when I bring him roses and I see the next day that the tops have all been chewed off, I know he also had some deer or elk visit him.” 

Care to visit too? The Eureka Cemetery is located at 1101 NE Yaquina Heights Drive in Newport and is open from dawn to dusk. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 2 pm. For more information, go to eurekacemetery.org.

Wreaths Across America

The Oregon Coast Veterans Association’s Wreaths Across America ceremony will take place at the Eureka Cemetery and Mausoleum in Newport at 10 am this Saturday, Dec. 14. The national Wreaths Across America Day was created to remember fallen veterans and honor those who currently serve.  

The ceremony this year will have CWO4 Beth Slade Commander of Yaquina Bay USCG Station as the guest speaker, followed by the wreath laying and concluding with the playing of “Taps”’ by retired Navy Chief Steven Schaljo.

“Chief Schaljo is a professional trumpet player who has been with Bugles Across America for 10 years,” said Larry Osborne, volunteer local coordinator for Wreaths Across America. “We’re proud to have him join us this year as we honor and remember our local veteran heroes.” Bugles Across America is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 to provide a live rendition of “Taps” at military funerals and ceremonies. There are now more than 3,000 volunteer buglers located across the nation.

During the ceremony, community volunteers will place a live, balsam fir remembrance wreath on the gravesite and speak that veterans name out loud, so they are not forgotten. 

Wreaths Across America was founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun in 1992. In 2023, more than three million wreaths were placed at 4,224 participating locations throughout the 50 states and beyond.