Forest Lawn Cemetery

About Forest Lawn Cemetery

Pe Ell is said to take its name from the way local Native people spoke the name of an early French-Canadian settler, Pierre, softened into the two short syllables the town still answers to. Up in the headwaters country of the Chehalis River, where timber once set the rhythm of the day and the Willapa Hills Trail now follows the old rail grade, Forest Lawn Cemetery keeps its grounds. The lawn among the markers is mown slowly and evenly, the edges kept true, the grass held at a respectful height. On a November afternoon, with low cloud resting on the hills and fir needles drifting down, those quiet rows carry a dignity the whole town can feel. Lawn care here is a form of remembrance.