Talking Headstones

Talking Headstones is a portion of the restoration of the Union Pioneer Calvary Cemetery - a part of the America 250! celebration. Sacajawea Chapter, NSDAR and George Rogers Clark, NSSAR, with permission from the City of Tumwater, have engaged in refurbishing the Union Pioneer Calvary Cemetery to include cleaning and repairing headstones, locating buried gravesites, lifting stones, locating lost stones and unmarked graves, as well as creating biographies for known founders in the cemetery.

​

Talking Headstones was the development and presentation of biographies for those identified local founders and their family members buried in the cemetery. The following narratives are those biographies that have been researched and presented to the public during annual presentations given in 2024, 2025, and 2026 while work was ongoing in the cemetery. Attendance at each of the “Talking Headstones” events numbered between 75 and 125.