Community Case: Myrtle Grove Cemetery

​Currently in the Community Case is a display about the Myrtle Grove Cemetery in Eureka

This local cultural landmark is located in Eureka on Myrtle Avenue near West Avenue --- across the street from Burre Center and the County Office of Education. Myrtle Grove Cemetery was Eureka’s first formal “burying ground” and was established in 1861. The location was chosen so as to be well away from the developed portion of town; and, therefore, not affected, it was thought, by any future urban encroachment.

Early photo of a parade going by the Cemetery (behind the fence at the bottom of the photo). c 1907. This may have been a Memorial Day (or Decoration Day) parade. Cat # 2005.78.141

Buhne Mausoleum. Courtesy of North Coast Journal

The cemetery is the final resting place of thousands of early Humboldt County pioneers. The names on the headstones and mausoleums are recognizable and well known. There’s Buhne, Carson, Vance, Henderson, Ricks, Van Voorheis, Brett, McFarland, Huntington, Connick, Sevier, Allard, Monroe, Kendall, Mercer, and many many more. Numerous judges, bankers, elected officials, six Eureka mayors, several sheriffs and police chiefs, as well as thousands of less well known, but equally important, residents are buried there. In fact, there are over six thousand recorded burials in the ten-acre cemetery.

Myrtle Grove Cemetery is also the home to 210 veterans of United States military service. Beginning with Civil War veterans (167 of them including both Union and Confederate soldiers) and including veterans of the Spanish-American War, Indian Wars, and World Wars One and Two. The cemetery is specially decorated each year for Memorial Day and Veterans Day and a program is presented.

Over its almost 160-year history, the cemetery has had its ups-and-downs maintenance-wise. A major effort in 1957 to “modernize” the grounds resulted in the basics of today’s appearance. By 2015, hundreds of headstones had sunk into the ground and were covered with dirt and debris. Shrinking City budgets resulted in sporadic maintenance and a climate of neglect.

Courtesy of North Coast Journal

A corps of dedicated volunteers has stepped in and with community donations and a partnership with the City, is now raising headstones – over three hundred so far, mowing the lawns, finding and documenting burials, placing new headstones, and bring the hallowed grounds back to life. (Click the photo to the right to view the North Coast Journal article on the cemetery's volunteers)

The exhibit at the Clarke Museum will showcase historic and current photographs and will especially highlight and honor the 17 World War One veterans buried there. The Veterans Day program at the cemetery on November 12 will feature those veterans on the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War.