Submitted by Maggie Rail, © Mar 09, 2006, last edited Jul
29, 2012 [mrail@asisna.com].
Total records = 4,450.
Driving west out of Saint Maries on Hwy 5 it is easy to see the
cemetery on the left or south side of the highway.
The Woodlawn Cemetery was homesteaded on Nov 01, 1911. This was
before Benewah became a county in 1915, a portion taken from Kootenai
County.
Previous to this cemetery, Saint Maries had a small cemetery
within the city limits, which contained 75 burials. These were
all removed to Woodlawn in 1911-1913.
This cemetery is owned and well maintained by the city of Saint
Maries. It contains four sections each starting on the flat on
the north side and continuing south up the hillside. As it extends
west it is becomes more level.
To highlight a few of the areas, at the south end in the Original
Addition, there is an area set aside as a memorial to all firefighters
lost in forest fires, with a huge number in the year of 1910.
They are buried in a circular fashion with a monument stone and
a flag in the center. There are at least three areas set aside
as Veteran Sections. There is a Babyland in the Second Additon
and the columbarium is in the Third Addition.
I found many stones to be very difficult to read. There is something
adhering to many of them which will not wipe or brush off, causing
them to be very difficult to read, besides the normal lichen etc
which grows over a period of time on stones. It is as if something
was applied to all of the stones. Many of the burial sites have
a square cement marker with only a name, or only a name and one
date, with the lawn growing over in many cases, making it impossible
to read them well. I know that I am missing many names of burials,
and will add or correct if someone has the correct reading with
proof, since I was unable to obtain sexton files to compare my
readings with. The groundskeeper said there are over 5,300 burials
in this cemetery.
