Duwamish Poor Farm Cemetery aka Seattle Potters Field
Along the Duwamish River
Known by two names, King County Hospital Cemetery or Duwamish Poor Farm Cemetery, depending on your search engine, Seattle once had a Potter’s Field. When the cemetery was exhumed in 1912, there were 3,280 people buried here. A little less than 800 of those lost souls had known names.
So what happened to their remains in 1912? Some say they were cremated and the ashes were scattered in the nearby Duwamish River. Others though claim a darker fate; that the dead were thrown in the river without cremation or ceremony. I don’t know the truth, but Seattle’s Georgetown district is known to be haunted.
In August of 1873 a petition was submitted to set apart two acres of the County Farm in Georgetown for burial purposes. It was to be a public cemetery. In November and December of 1912 three thousand two hundred and sixty remains were exhumed from this cemetery and delivered to the County Crematory. There were eight hundred and fifty five names and dates on headboards. Four hundred and ninety three had only numbers on headboards. One thousand and twelve had no mark, either numbers or names and no headstones.
