Medford, Oregon - Every day without even knowing it, hundreds of people drive by a piece of Oregon history. A 20-acre parcel of land containing the remains of some of Oregon's pioneers lies quietly hidden behind the Minute Market on the corner of Highland Avenue and Siskiyou Boulevard. "We also have many Civil War veterans interred there as well as veterans of the Spanish American War, WWI, and WWII," said Beverly Power, cemetery records clerk for Medford's Department of Parks and Recreation.

One of Medford's oldest families, the Barneburgs, donated the land to the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in the late 1800's. Fred Barneburg left Missouri on a mule when he was 18 (circa 1854) to make his fortune in gold. He ended up in the Rogue Valley and was the first one to plant Bartlett pear trees here. He acquired a section of land and his family used par of it to bury their dead.

"The first person that we know of to be buried there was Harry Barneburg a baby who was born and died in 1878," said Power. "Other family members were buried there as wellyears before the IOOF took possession of it."

She noted that the Odd Fellows maintained the cemetery for most of the 20th Century, adding a mausoleum in 1925, and adding a new section to it in 1948.

"But by the early 1970's IOOF membership was declining, and the cemetery had become too much of a financial burden for the organization," said Power. "They held meetings with city and county officials and reached a verbal understanding that the city and county would take over the site."

It turned out, however, that state law forbade ownership of cemeteries by counties, so the old burial site fell solely into the hands of Medford.

"We put together a management plan in the early 80's," said Power. "The plan included getting the cemetery registered as a historic site." The city accomplished that goal in 1989 when the cemeteryofficially named the Eastwood/IOOF Cemetery was placed on the National register of Historic Sites.

"The management plan also tells us how stones should look in historic cemeteries, and what we can and cannot do there," she added.

One of the things not allowed is irrigation. During the summer months, the ground is covered with dry brown grass. City crews mow it twice a year. "It looks just like a cemetery would look like in the 1800's," said Power.

The mausoleum contains a stain glass window made in 1925 by Povey Brothersthe oldest stain glass manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. The latest records show that it has 530 occupied crypts. "About 110 have been sold but not occupied yet, and another 89 are still available for sale," said Power. The marble faced crypts sell for $500-$600.

"People are still being buried in the ground as well," said Power. "We bury 8-10 people there every year." Burial plots, she added, sell for $250 each.

The remains of many people well known in the Rogue Valley lie beneath the sod there including Fred Barneburg, who drowned while fishing in 1907. Coyl Johnsonkilled by the DeAutremont brothers in the infamous tunnel 13 train robbery of 1923, and George Prescottthe Medford police officer shot to death by a man he was trying to arrest in 1933. (Prescott Park on Roxy Ann mountain was named after him.) Harry and David Holmes (of Harry and David fame) are interred in the mausoleum.

The city plans to open a reflective garden in front of the mausoleum soon. "We want to increase the public's awareness of the cemetery," said Power. "Right now we only have one official eventMemorial Day, and hundreds of people come to pay respect to their ancestors and more recently deceased family members."

Power noted that those interested can look at the cemetery's records at the Parks and Recreation office in Medford City Hall. "They can find out who is buried there, when they died and what was the cause of death," she said. "I think that going through the records or strolling through the cemetery and reading the inscriptions of the grave markers really gives a person a sense of the history of this region."

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