old cemeteries | Scenes From the Lily Pad

All smaller, older cemeteries in the Port Orchard, Washington and surrounding area.

Bethel Cemetery
Sedgwick Cemetery
Colby Cemetery

The Bethel Cemetery is located 3 miles south of Port Orchard, Washington. The cemetery is located on the corner of Lider Road SE and Bethel Avenue and is behind the Grace Bible Church.

Driving Directions: To get to the cemetery one should leave Highway 16 at the Sedgwick/Southworth exit driving east. At the Sedgwick and Bethel intersection, turn Right and travel on Bethel over the crossover of Hwy 16 just past the Bethel Towing Co. Crossing the overpass will have you facing Grace Bible Church.

Herman and Gladys Wolfer father daughter

The Sedgwick Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Port Orchard on Sedgwick Road.

Driving Directions: From SR 16 take the Sedgwick Exit. Turn right onto SR-160 (SE Sedgwick Road). Stay on Sedgwick Rd for approximately 5.5 miles. Cemetery will be on your right hand side.

Sedgwick Cemetery was founded by the Ladies of G.A.R. General John Sedgwick Circle of Harper and Colby. This cemetery was named in honor of General John Sedgwick, a Civil War Officer. In the year 1905, a group of women, wives, daughters, and nieces of Civil War Veterans, organized the General Sedgwick Circle, No. 28, Ladies of the G.A.R., Women’s Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic. The charter members were Miriam Grant, Annie Cox, Mrs. Premo, Rosa Carr, Eva Peterson, Alice Kenney, Mrs. Ford Kenney, Juaquina Higgins, Annie Malone and Mrs. Myron Mix, all residents of Harper and Colby. The Circle at once adopted a project, namely, a suitable burial place for the future use of veterans and their families. Two acres of land, level and uncleared were bought from Major Carr of Harper. In 1910, the little cemetery had been surveyed and platted. Driveways and alleys were laid out and a formal dedication was made to the public. Records have been faithfully kept and their pages show the names of many pioneers, women and men, who, by their industry and integrity, have helped to bring Kitsap County to its fine level of today.

The Colby (South Colby) Cemetery is located at the crossroad of SE Mile Hill Drive and Alaska Street SE in Colby (outskirts of Port Orchard), Kitsap Co., Wash.This small cemetery is in a wooded area and is on a slight hill, with a narrow dirt road leading up to it. The cemetery appears overgrown and unkept.

During our tour of Manresa Castle the tour guide indicated a 13 year old “spirit” named Lotta frequented the place. She liked room 214. No one really knew her affiliation with the castle.

She told us that the original owner and builder of the castle, Charles Eisenbeis, was buried several blocks away from the castle at the Laurel Grove Cemetery. For some reason they had to dig up his grave and discovered a casket of a child above Charles’ casket. Some speculate this may have been an illegitimate child of his and that it was Lotta. All speculation, but a cool story nevertheless.

So we decided to visit the cemetery. It was beautiful. Cemeteries calm me. There were some very ornate family plots like the Eisenbeis one. It was a drizzly day when we were there. I was in awe of some of the headstones and the way the moss, lichen and fungi were growing in the grooves of the deceased name.