Long Point Native American Cemetery

This cemetery is located at Long Point, on the eastern edge of the town of Coupeville in Central Whidbey Island, Washington. I have been unable as yet to locate it precisely in order to photograph it. Presumably there are no grave markers, as the existence of this cemetery is not generally known. There was recorded at the Island County Courthouse, on March 12, 1941, a document by Peter John, a native American, telling of the formation of this burial ground.

This document was quoted in a local newspaper account dated April 30, 1970, which is on file as a clipping at the Island County Historical Society in Coupeville. Native Americans were being encouraged to have Christian burials underground, instead of the traditional placing of bodies in trees. Father Eugene Chirouse helped them choose the place and he blessed the ground. This was the first official cemetery on Whidbey Island. The list on the next page was produced from the memory of Peter John, who stated that there were many more buried there than those he named.

Note: The children of Aleck and Susie Kettle may have been moved to Sunnyside Cemetery, as Aleck's obituary says he was buried there next his seven children, all of whom predeceased him.