PlacesPages: Historic Salem #5: Lee Mission Cemetery

D Street NE between 22nd & 24th Streets NE

Lee Mission Cemetery on August 12, 2007

The Lee Mission Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Salem. The graves of many of Oregon’s earliest settlers are located here.

Lee Mission Cemetery on August 12, 2007

Lee Mission Cemetery Gate on August 12, 2007

The entry gate of the Lee Mission Cemetery bears the date of 1838, the date that Jason Lee's first wife died.

Lee Mission Cemetery Plaque on August 12, 2007

A plaque placed here in 1980 by the Oregon State Society of Colonial Dames of the 17th Century states that the cemetery was created in 1835. The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 29, 1978.

Jason Lee Monument at the Lee Mission Cemetery

Inside the cemetery is a marker placed in honor of Jason Lee by the Mahonia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists, through the generosity of Mrs. Byron B. Herrick in memory of her father, Winfield Taylor Rigdon, a Marion County Pioneer and admirer of Jason Lee.

Jason Lee Monument at the Lee Mission Cemetery

Historical Photos:
Jason Lee marker in 1995 (Salem Public Library)

Detail of the Jason Lee Monument at the Lee Mission Cemetery

Lee Mission Cemetery Flagpole on August 12, 2007

Near the plaque and the Jason Lee Monument is a flagpole, erected by Grant Elementary Cub Scout Pack 5 in May 1997 “To Honor Those Who Served God” & “To Honor Those Who Served Their Country.”

Lee Mission Cemetery Flagpole on August 12, 2007