Cemetery at Saint Martin’s Abbey

I have a fondness for old cemeteries that some people might find odd. Not a morbid or ghoulish fascination, but something more akin to my love of antiques and big old houses. Like snowflakes, no two are ever the same.

The cemetery at Saint Martin’s Abbey is nestled in the midst of a thick stand of towering pine trees. Two angels guard the entrance. The stone wall surrounding the site is weathered and moss-grown. Likewise, the grave stones themselves which are uniformly placed in neat rows on either side of a center aisle made of red bricks. It’s so quiet here; you’d never guess there’s a bustling college campus just over the hill.

Saint Martin’s Abbey was established in the early 1890’s when the Benedictines of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville MN sent Fr William Eversmann, O.S.B., to be pastor of the newly formed Holy Rosary parish. By 1895, they had sent enough monks to found a new monastery and school on a 300 acre parcel of land just 50 miles south of Seattle. Saint Martin’s College (later university) was built on the site in 1895, followed by the cemetery just a few years later.

The first to be buried in the cemetery at Saint Martin’s Abbey was Br Edward Karge on March 14, 1904. He has since been joined by nearly 100 of his brethren.

Saint Martin’s Abbey is located at 5300 Pacific Avenue SE in Lacey, WA.