Mission Statement
Our Mission is to assist Astoria Greenwood Cemetery in protecting and promoting its historical character by fostering and supporting the restoration and preservation of its monuments which chronicles the culture of the local area. The cemetery has great significance to the community and also represents historic heritage to generations of family members. Friends will strive to raise funds and seek volunteer services to accomplish the goal of historic preservation of the cemetery’s objects and infrastructure.
Greenwood is a pioneer cemetery, an outdoor museum, a memento of great achievements and unheralded lives of ordinary people who contributed greatly to both culture and structure, leaving a better place for those who followed, some by their lives, others by their departures. Here lie explorers, people of commerce and industry, civic leaders, murderers, gamblers, loggers, fisherfolk, and a host of early settlers who lived lives of quiet desperation. Immigrants from Scandinavia, Finland, and Ireland wrote to family members back in their land of birth, saying, “Come on over! It looks just like home!” Each grave has a story waiting to be told.
-Michale Leamy,
Greenwood Cemetery
Some Friends projects completed to date:
1) Granite entry sign for the cemetery, replacing a nostalgic wooden sign (which has since been re-installed near the new kiosk)
2) Information Kiosk
3) Stillborn Babies Memorial
There are many future projects envisioned to help enhance and preserve Greenwood Cemetery, including a major goal of restoring the interior roadways.
In order to receive tax-deductible donations, the Friends group needed to either become a 501 (c ) (3) or find a fiscal sponsor. We felt too new to undertake the IRS requirements for non-profit status ourselves and so found a 501 (c) (3) fiscal sponsor willing to include us among their many nationwide non-profit projects. Therefore, all donations to our Friends group are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law (please see the footer for more information.)
