Our History
This historic pioneer cemetery is the fourth largest historic cemetery in Clackamas County.
Pleasant View Cemetery was established between Wilsonville and Sherwood in the 1850’s during the nation-wide rural cemetery movement, sometimes also known as the cemetery-on-the-hill movement that sited cemeteries in view locations outside of towns rather than in church yards or other urban locations. The movement was especially pronounced in the West where many settlers were not affiliated with an established church. Part of the philosophy behind the movement was the belief that the soul could better find its way to God, if the final resting place was in a natural setting, removed from the earthly trappings of human development. The cemetery was called Pleasant Hill Cemetery, named for the Pleasant Hill census tract that covered much of the Wilsonville-Sherwood area for the 1850 and 1860 census. It was also known as Hood View Cemetery since at one time it had a fabulous view of Mt. Hood, that has since been lost to tree growth. Until 1860 this area west of Wilsonville was part of Yamhill County. Documents, such as obituaries, marriage certificates, and census data thru 1860 will refer to this area as Yamhill County. After 1860 it became part of Clackamas County and remains so today.
The oldest death date on a monument in the cemetery is 1851 for Thomas Tuckness, an infant of 5 months who died in Missouri before his family emigrated in 1853. He is likely buried in Missouri but his name is on the monument with his siblings, Sarah M. Tuckness, who died in 1865 at 2 years of age and W. J. Tuckness who died in 1866 at the age of 10 years. It is likely that this monument was not produced until 1865 or 1866 or even later. The exact age of the monuments is hard to determine because they may have been produced, or original markers replaced, at dates much later than the actual burial date. The oldest recorded burial here is for Mary Elizabeth Baker, who died here in 1856 at 4 years of age, but there is no monument for her. There is evidence that this was a burial site even before the arrival of the Bakers in 1853, but no official records have survived.
Among the oldest known monuments in the cemetery is that of Mary E. Short who died in 1862 at 2 years of age. Most of the pre-1900 monuments are marble on a sandstone base, although some sandstone bases have deteriorated and been replaced with concrete. After the turn of the century, cutting technology improved enough to work with the much harder and more durable granite, which tends to dominate after 1910. About the same time, concrete or granite replaced sandstone as the primary choice for bases. Other materials used for monuments include zinc, bronze, concrete, wood, and a black glass resin plate.