Scouters’ Mountain in Happy Valley offers a picturesque view of Mt. Hood and is criss-crossed with many forested trails.

But tucked away from view off a private road lies a small cemetery, encompassed by a chain-link fence and dotted with a few headstones. It’s an eerily quiet place surrounded by a bustling suburban area.

And for the first time in 170 years, the area surrounding the cemetery is open to the public, in an effort to share its history with Happy Valley residents and to ensure it doesn’t disappear.

First established in 1852, the Christilla Pioneer Cemetery holds the remains of some of Happy Valley’s earliest settlers. Christian and Matilda Deardorff were the first to settle the area after arriving in a covered wagon from Iowa in 1850.

Today, their graves form the center of the Christilla Pioneer Cemetery. The first person buried at the site was an unknown pioneer — his grave is simply labeled “Covered Wagon Pioneer.” The cemetery has been closed since 1932. The most recent burial was an infant who died in 1988.

Scouters’ Mountain is a public park today, but the cemetery has remained privately owned by the descendants of those buried and only they were allowed on the property. Dennis Deardorff, a retired pastor, is perhaps the most active in maintaining the cemetery.

“You can see how tranquil it is here — this really is serene,” Deardorff said. “This here hasn’t changed much at all, other than the fact that the stones are deteriorating.”

The cemetery has acted as a sort of Deardorff family heirloom for generations. Dennis Deardorff remembers the family would hold reunions, gathering annually to clean up the cemetery and hold picnics. He spent his childhood playing in the wooded areas surrounding it.

“It was one of those things you almost took for granted,” he said. “I didn’t really have a sense of ownership of it yet. It’s only because now my dad’s gone and that generation. Now it’s falling on my generation.”

Over the years, as family interest has dwindled, the cemetery started to fall into disrepair. Headstones became buried in weeds and grasses. Vandals either destroyed or attempted to steal gravemarkers.

So, Dennis Deardorff reached out to the city of Happy Valley and other local organizations for help. That’s led to a partnership in maintaining the cemetery, while also making it available for the public to see.

Steve Campbell, the director of community services in Happy Valley, said the city will help develop the trails surrounding the cemetery. Code enforcement officers will also be used to ensure gravesites are no longer vandalized.

He said Happy Valley residents care a great deal about the history of their city, and the cemetery remains one of the best examples.

“I know they have a really big sense of pride in their community and where they came from,” Campbell said. “This is why it’s so important to make sure that people never forget the sacrifices that the Deardorff family made to get over here on the Oregon Trail.”

A clean-up event was recently held at the cemetery, with dozens of volunteers from the Rotary Club, Boys Team Charity, the National Charity League and Happy Valley Hikers. The volunteers cleared out the overgrowth that once enveloped the area.

Campbell and Deardorff said they want to turn the 5 acres surrounding the cemetery into an interpretive history trail. It would feature multiple stops explaining the early history of Happy Valley and the settlers who arrived by covered wagon. Campbell said he hopes the trail will be completed in about a year.

There are also efforts to account for all those buried here. There are 29 known gravesites — but it’s hard not to notice that large portions of the cemetery have no markings at all. Deardorff said many gravesites initially had wooden markers, which have long since deteriorated. Others have been so weathered that the words have become nearly unreadable.

Deardorff said he’s seeking a grant to get ground-penetrating radar, which can detect the presence of bodies without disturbing the remains.

Overall, he said he’s heartened by the outpouring of community interest about his family’s cemetery.

“Even though they’re not related, there’s an affiliation,” Deardorff said. “It’s exciting to see now that this generation, people are saying, ‘No my roots are important.’”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/30/historic-173-year-old-oregon-cemetery-opens-public/