The earliest date carved on any grave marker in Salem Pioneer Cemetery is 1841. The cemetery wasn't founded until 1854. The older date belongs to Mary A. Kinney, the first wife of Methodist missionary Reverend David Leslie. She died at the mission in 1841 and was later moved into the Leslie family plot on the hill. That stone led to a brief belief that the cemetery was 13 years older than it is.
The hillside is cared for on a volunteer work calendar that runs from March through October. The last scheduled task of 2026 was the "wrap-up of headstone repair projects," with the final listed session on Oct. 12. From now until spring, the grounds sit between seasons, and that's a good time for a walk.
The calendar that keeps the stones upright
The Friends of the Salem Pioneer Cemetery hold monthly work parties from March through October, and the tasks change each month. This is what the 2026 schedule laid out for the Saturday sessions:
| Saturday session | Planned work |
|---|---|
| March 14 | Spring pruning, especially the heritage roses, and general cleanup |
| April 11 | Headstone straightening and plot grooming |
| May 9 | Pre-Memorial Day plot grooming and headstone straightening |
| June 13, July 11, Aug. 8, Sept. 12 | Headstone straightening and repairs, moss removal, vine-pulling |
| October 3 | Fall cleanup and pruning, wrap-up of headstone repair projects |
Each Saturday was followed by Monday sessions for people who can volunteer on weekdays. October's ended on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12. Most work parties ran 9 a.m. to noon. The March and October sessions started an hour later and ran 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The table shows how the year was split. Four straight months went to straightening and repairing headstones and pulling moss and vines. October was set aside to finish those projects. The schedule has no work parties in November through February.
Why a city park runs on volunteer Saturdays
The volunteer calendar exists because of what happened when the cemetery's original owners stepped back. The Odd Fellows of Chemeketa Lodge No. 1 founded the burial ground in 1854 on five acres bought from Reverend Leslie. Later purchases in 1861 and 1890 brought it to its full 17.05 acres.
After World War II, the Odd Fellows stopped selling burial lots and gave up oversight of the grounds, which they had long left to a sexton. The cemetery fell into disrepair, except for plots that pioneer descendants kept up themselves. A Salem Pioneer Cemetery Association formed in 1949 to seek public support. The State Legislature later gave joint stewardship to Marion County and the City of Salem, but no money came with it.
According to the City, the decades that followed swung between bursts of cleanup and stretches of neglect. That pattern changed in 1985, when the Friends of Pioneer Cemetery organized and the City agreed to become legal titleholder and permanent steward. The deed passed to the City in February 1986. The Friends also prepared the application that put the site on the National Register of Historic Places under its historic name, Odd Fellows Rural Cemetery, on Sept. 11, 2013.
It is still an active burial ground. The right to burial here passes only to descendants of the early plot and lot deed-holders.
Where the money goes when volunteers can't fix it
Some jobs are bigger than a Saturday crew can handle. The Statesman Journal reported in August 2025 that the Friends and the City decide together how to spend the cemetery endowment's yearly distribution. The 2024 distribution, more than $24,000, helped pay to inspect, repair and clean the mausoleums. The same story reported that consultants removed permanent red-marker graffiti from Asahel Bush's headstone after a 2023 vandalism incident. The Friends then set up a separate special-projects fund for urgent work.
That same Statesman Journal story said the Friends' long-kept burial database had been offline for more than a year after the City took custody of it. For now, the City's cemetery page sends people looking for a specific grave to Find a Grave's Salem Pioneer Cemetery listing. Look up a name before you go. The City's plat map helps match sections to the ground.
The walk, after the last work party
The City lists the address as 2201 Commercial St. SE. The Oregon Encyclopedia notes that the original Commercial Street entrance is no longer used and that you now enter at the head of Hoyt Street. City park hours are sunrise to sunset. Under the City's park rules, dogs must be leashed and their waste picked up, and smoking and vaping are not allowed.
From there, these are the stops worth finding:
- The lychgate. A brick and wrought-iron covered gate built in 1988, during the Friends' early years.
- The carriage lanes. The burial plots sit on a narrow, stretched-out grid. Curving carriage turnarounds and side lanes break it up on either side of the central drive, under scattered native oaks, madronas and conifers.
- The Leslie family plot. Reverend Leslie, his second wife Adelia, and their two young daughters are buried in the original Odd Fellows plat, along with Mary Kinney's reburied remains and her 1841 stone.
- The founders' graves. Samuel R. Thurston, Oregon Territory's first congressional delegate. William H. Willson, who platted Salem. Tabitha Moffat Brown. Gov. John Pollard Gaines. Asahel Bush, whose headstone was cleaned after the 2023 graffiti. Harvey Gordon, who designed the Oregon State Seal.
- The E. N. Cooke family vault. One of the cemetery's built landmarks, listed in the Oregon Encyclopedia alongside the lychgate.
- The Chinese shrine. The City describes it as possibly the last physical trace of Salem's historic Chinese American community. Its stated goals for the shrine project are surveying, excavation and interpretation.
- The view northeast. The site was chosen in the 19th-century Rural Cemetery tradition partly for its outlook. From the slope you can see the Capitol dome and the Methodist Church spire. On a clear day, the Cascades rise behind them with Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson.
The shrine is also the site of the cemetery's spring tradition. The City calendar listed the eighth annual Qing Ming Festival at Pioneer Cemetery for April 4, 2026. Salem Reporter previewed it as a celebration of spring's arrival and a day to honor the dead. The volunteer schedule had regular volunteers greeting visitors that day.
Getting on next year's calendar
The City's Southwest Association of Neighbors page lists the cemetery as one of SWAN's parks, along with Fircrest Park, Nelson Park and a piece of Minto-Brown. SWAN volunteers already held a Pioneer Cemetery workday on April 27 this year. Salem Reporter's April neighborhood roundup listed it next to a Bonham Corner cleanup.
If you want to help when the work parties start again, the 2026 instructions spell out the steps. First-time volunteers should contact the City of Salem Parks and Recreation Volunteer Coordinator and fill out a volunteer application. After that, you sign the log sheet each day you work. Groups of more than four need to arrange their visit with the City ahead of time. Bring your own gloves, since tools are kept on site. This year's season began in March with pruning the heritage roses. The City posts each year's schedule on its Salem Pioneer Cemetery page.
SWAN also meets sooner than that. The association's next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3737 Liberty Rd. S. The City's event listing says everyone is welcome.
Heather Rauh brings that same stone-by-stone care to preparing a home in South Salem for market. If you're near Hoyt and Commercial and wondering what your home's story is worth, Schedule a Consultation.
