Wrangell Memorial Cemetery: City of the Dead, Playground of the Living
🪦 Part of A Series On Wrangell Cemeteries 🪦
If you drive down the Zimovia Highway, one of the first landmarks you’ll pass is Wrangell Memorial Cemetery.
It was intended to be Wrangell’s final resting place, but it became a place that brought Wrangell to life.
“Graveyard Point, Wrangell, Alaska, circa 1909” from the American Museum of Natural History
Cemetery Point
By the turn of the century, Wrangell was outgrowing the Indian Cemetery, a patch of woods used since 1876 as a burial ground. It began under Tsimshian Christian missionary Philip “Clah” McKay, who encouraged burial over traditional cremation. The cemetery proved popular, and headstones sprung up in the underbrush at odd angles, with no respect to the compass. By the end of the century, the cemetery spilled out onto the beach, where totems, fences, and headstones mingled among the shrubbery.
It was a cemetery in the wilderness, a quiet spot far enough away from Wrangell that no road connected it to the town. To get there, the living and the dead went by boat to Cemetery Point.
This photo, circa 1899, shows Shustack's Point in the foreground and Cemetery Point behind it.
With each death, the voyage from the harbor to Cemetery Point became a solemn, somber ritual. When mourners outnumbered the available boat space, they simply walked the winding, rocky beach down the coast. This tradition to honor the dead became a way of life, but it had drawbacks. When bad weather prohibited the voyage, a dead body might wait for days before burial. As one Wrangell resident described it:
“Wrangell is my home, and it is dearer to me than any other spot on earth, but up there a burial is a matter of such great difficulty that I should feel ashamed to put my friends to so much trouble. There is no road from the town to the cemetery. The only way to reach the city of the dead is by boats. When there is a funeral a gas boat fleet forms the funeral cortege. If the weather is stormy and water rough the burial must be postponed. Not long ago a citizen of Wrangell died during a spell of stormy weather and the funeral was postponed from day to day for more than a week, waiting for the water to become smooth enough to permit the voyage to the cemetery being made without shaking the corpse overboard. (December 7, 1916 Wrangell Sentinel)”
The population boom following the Klondike Gold Rush (1898 - 1902) turned Wrangell from a sleepy, post-gold rush town into one of Alaska’s leading cities. New buildings went up and the town incorporated as a city. At the end of 1902, a new voice emerged to promote local progress: the Alaska Sentinel. Perhaps no one agitated, advocated, and pushed for improvements to the cemetery more than the Alaska Sentinel. In its very first edition, published November 20, 1902, an Alaska Sentinel editorial wrote:
“Wrangell has a rather pretty site for a cemetery, but it is in rather a dilapidated state at present. The SENTINEL suggests that the move be made for cutting away the brush and making a general cleaning up of the grounds. The ‘City of the Dead’ should be kept decently and in order.”
One week later, a subscriber replied, and the Sentinel published its very first letter to the editor:
“Mr. Editor: You were right in suggesting that the burial grounds should be given some attention. Some have been talking of removing the cemetery to some other quarters but it appears to me that a more suitable place cannot be found. It is a point dry for this country and easy of access by boats and would be a beautiful spot if properly cleared up and some attention paid to it.”
To find a more suitable place, a new generation of civic leaders would have to create it.
The Redmen Cemetery
The Redmen Cemetery, photographed circa 1930s. Photo credit: Alaska’s Digital Archives
Despite its name, the Red Men’s Club was a fraternal club for white men, part of a larger, national organization. Wrangell’s chapter occupied the Red Men’s Lodge, a prominent gathering space on the town’s waterfront. They organized for social events and to promote local development.
Like many social and religious organizations in the West, the club acquired cemetery space for its members, but it was far from the idyllic Westestern image of a picturesque, green pasture. On May 30, 1907, the Wrangell Sentinel wrote:
“The local lodge of Red Men are fixing up, clearing and fencing their graveyard at the cemetery. The logs and other rubbish will be removed, and when the work is all complete a handsome little cemetery will be the result.”
To pay for the work, the Red Men threw a dance and raised $48:
“Tomorrow night, at Red Men’s Hall, there is to be an entertainment and ball, the proceeds from which are to be used for the improvement of the cemetery. The Red Men of Stikine tribe No. 5 are putting their cemetery in somewhat respectable shape, and have recently had Geo. Card’s steam logger pulling out the stumps and wind-fallen trees, until now quite a patch is clear. But it is the purpose of the lodge to clean up the entire plot, and to that end the proceeds of tomorrow nights events are to be used... After the program there will be dancing for all who desire to participate. An admission fee of one dollar for gentlemen and 25 cents for children will be taken at the door. Ladies will be admitted free, and it is requested that each lady take lunch.”
The Red Men were breaking new ground — literally and figuratively. They turned a patch of rugged southeast Alaska terrain into an inviting home. The Red Men implemented a rule that all headstones must face the same direction, ensuring uniformity and consistency. In July 1908, the Red Men announced plots were for sale.
With that, the Red Men Cemetery became the popular place for Wrangell to bury its dead, Native and non-Native. The Indian Cemetery, shrouded in the woods behind it, began slowly disappearing into the underbrush and further into the past.
Cemetery Road
This map (circa 1930) shows the phases of development of what became the Zimovia Highway. The first phase was known as the Wrangell Cemetery Section.
The Red Men made finding a place to bury the dead easier, but getting there was just as inconvenient as before. In 1913, the Red Men tried to improve the situation by bulding a wharf inside Cemetery Point:
“The local Red Mens lodge has now completed a wharf at their cemetery which will greatly facilitate landing of boats. The wharf is 12 ft. wide and extends out 100 ft, with a drop of 5 ft, in the outer 20... The lodge did not construct the landing with an eye for increased business for the Cemetery but it will be appreciated by those who may be called upon to use it.”
While the wharf made landing easier, everyone knew the problem had to be solved over land.
To get the ball rolling, the City of Wrangell hired contractors to build a 6-foot wide gravel walkway in the direction of the cemetery. It would only be 700 feet long, well short of the distance needed to reach the cemetery, but the city hoped future funding would finish the job. The town paid for the walkway through community dances and fundraisers.
The road sat unfinished for years, until 1916 when the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce appealed to the Alaska Road Commission for $5,000 to connect the town to the cemetery.
In the summer of 1918, as Allied Forces pushed into France, the Alaska Road Commission pushed down the coast, connecting Wrangell with its cemetery for the first time. The Wrangell Sentinel, a long-time advocate for the cemetery, celebrated in its August 15, 1918 issue:
“The road to the cemetery that we dreamed of for so many years is now an accomplished fact... The Wrangell road is a valuable accomplishment for the community and should open up a section of land for homes that is at present lying idle. To the people now residing along the bay it will prove a wonderful benefit, and the town people find the walk along the new highway a most delightful one.”
While the road to the cemetery was a dead end, it was about to spark new life.
A Playground for the Living
City Park
One year after the road’s completion, the Wrangell Sentinel published an article entitled Concerning a Park for Wrangell:
“The first of this week several citizens looked over the little corner of forest beyond the cemetery and decided that it would be an ideal place for a park. Here the spruce trees afford shelter and shade; a mountain stream furnishes the purest water that could be desired, while the outlook over the bay is a sight upon which to feast the eyes...”
The woods south of the Red Men Cemetery were undeveloped, save for a small collection of headstones. On one side ran a small creek, on the other a wide open view of the ocean. It instantly became a popular picnic spot and destination for gatherings, especially among the town’s first automobile owners.
To enhance the use of the park, the U.S. Forest Service constructed fireplaces, tables, and garbage containers in 1928. At some point, a small playground was added the north end of City Park.
Bathing Beach
City Park’s wide, gentle-sloping beach provides hours of endless exploring, but it makes swimming difficult. For that, Wrangell looked to Cemetery Beach. The beach faced north and was well positioned to catch the sun on long, summer days. Against a backdrop of a graveyard, Wrangell came out to splash and play. Over the years, it went by the name Bathing Beach, Swimming Beach, and Cemetery Beach. Early on, the local Women’s Civic Club adopted the beach and took care of it. They constructed changing huts for the public, and they organized to clean up trash which accumulated.
The June 6, 1941 Wrangell Sentinel wrote:
“...A little mental clean up is also in order. It may have been thoughtlessness, but it could have been plain cussedness, that caused some individual or individuals to dump piles of garbage on the swimming beach near the park. There may have been a clean up where the garbage came from, but certainly the place to put it was not on the beach where Wrangell’s youngsters have been enjoying some great swimming days in this warm June sunshine.”
Baseball
In the years that followed, Wrangell filled in the area between the cemetery and the shore to construct a baseball field, bleachers, restrooms, and a concession stand. It was as if the April 27, 1911 issue of the Wrangell Sentinel predicted the future when it wrote:
“Some people wouldn’t go to the cemetery while living, but if there was a ball park down that way...”
Before the baseball field retired to become a community garden, an occasional pop fly ball might sail over the fence and find its way into the cemetery.
In 1958, The City of Wrangell purchased the land for City Park from the Bureau of Land Management, paying $750 for 27.68 acres of land.
Wrangell Memorial Cemetery
In 1943, the City of Wrangell purchased the Red Men Cemetery:
“Following negotiations started last year, the City Council at a special meeting Tuesday night purchased the Red Men cemetery for a cash price of $1,000. The property includes four and one-half acres on the Wrangell Highway about one-half mile south of the city limits, on both sides of the road and bordering Zimovia strait…”
Within weeks, the Wrangell City Council had a new name for the cemetery:
“That from and after the passage of this ordinance, the said cemetery shall be known as ‘Wrangell Memorial Cemetery,’ and shall be available, subject to the provisions of this ordinance, to all persons irrespective of race, creed or color.”
The first person buried in the newly renamed Wrangell Memorial Cemetery may have been Charlie Jones, Shakes the 7th, who died in 1944. His headstone may well be the largest, tallest headstone in Wrangell.
Today, roughly 500 people are buried in Wrangell Memorial Cemetery, though recent investigation has revealed that not all graves have markers. Space is running out, and the community established nearby Sunset Gardens Cemetery in the 1960s. As time passes, and both cemeteries fill, there are ongoing efforts to ensure adequate final resting places.
Thanks to the work of volunteers, many headstone photos, clippings, and facts about the people buried in Wrangell Memorial Cemetery are available at FindaGrave.com.
Cemetery Point Lives On
For years, Cemetery Point served as a symbol of the final voyage from life into death. It was a place near the water where people gathered to say farewell. With the construction of Heritage Harbor in recent years, the point was covered with rock and turned into a breakwater.
But the legacy of Cemetery Point lives on today in the Wrangell Mariner’s Memorial. The thoughtfully designed monument contains plaques for the dead and a special tribute to the 111 who died aboard the wreck of the Star of Bengal. Today, as in the past, this point of land draws Wrangell together to celebrate and honor the dead.
The cemetery was a catalyst for Wrangell’s growth. Caring for the dead crossed cultures and united the town. The recreational areas around the cemetery ensured the memory of the dead would never be far from the living.
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Wrangell Cemeteries
Researching history is amazing, but disturbing headstones is a bad idea. Before attempting to move or clean a headstone, consult with local government, tribal organizations, and next-of-kin to make sure you’re doing it the right way! You never want to be responsible for damaging a grave, even with the best of intentions. There are people in Alaska who are experts in this field, and you should seek out their advice!