4 min
Overview
This walk, via city streets in inner Southeast Portland, connects two of Portland’s most venerable green spaces. The 30 acres of Laurelhurst Park were acquired by the City of Portland in 1911 and developed according to the Olmsted Plan. The existing pond was deepened and named Firwood Lake, and various sections of the park were planted according to a “natural landscaping” plan. Eight blocks to the west is Metro’s Lone Fir Cemetery, begun in 1855 as Mount Crawford Cemetery. The cemetery continues to accept burials and some of Portland’s most notable sons and daughters are interred there. The graveyard is also an arboretum, with over 550 trees of 71 species that have been planted since the original Lone Fir. Please note that dogs are not permitted in Lone Fir Cemetery. You’re parked on Ankeny, just above Laurelhurst Park, but leave that for last and start walking west along Ankeny. The H. Russell Albee House, built 1912 in Colonial Revival style, and the Mediterranean-style Bitar Mansion, built in 1927, are the two large homes on your left before you reach 33rd Avenue. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places. Cross 33rd and continue one block to the Old Laurelhurst Church, a 1923 structure now rented for weddings. Turn left down 32nd Avenue, and then turn right on Pine Street after one block. (In this area, take note of the sign caps on street corners, in both English and Amharic, in remembrance of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant who was beaten to death here in 1981 by three white supremacists.) You’ll be walking west on Pine for seven blocks until you reach 26th Avenue, where you should make a left and walk the one block past the grounds of Central Catholic High School to the corner of 26th and Stark. Across the street is the Lone Fir Cemetery, with its 25,000 residents, although many headstones are now illegible. Cross Stark and walk along the cemetery’s fence until you come to the entrance gate. Walk down the central aisle of the cemetery and turn right to begin your circle around it. Th
Trail Stats
0.0 km
21 m
54 m
0 m
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Photos
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