I took myself on a shortish bike ride yesterday, because I hadn’t been on the bike for like three weeks now and figured I better get out there before I lose whatever gains I made in strength and endurance. So, I hoisted the bike onto the car (rack) and drove to where I drop the car when I bike commute to work. I specifically wanted to ride this stretch, since this is where those three killer hills (for me) are, and wanted to see if I could still make it up them without too much trouble. Granted, it was an abbreviated ride, since I didn’t ride the entire distance to my place of employment, but it was a good test and I was able to get some photographs that I’d wanted to take for some time.
This may seem morbid, but there’s a small cemetery near the end of this road (before it crosses the highway and continues on with a different name) that had intrigued me for some time. It seemed so old and forlorn, and I figure the families of those buried there are either gone from the area or at least have long since forgotten about their ancestors who lie there.
Why it’s called Maple Lane I have no idea, there may be a Maple Lane in the area but that’s not the current name of this road. Although this road was renamed just a few years ago, and I’ve already forgotten what it used to be (although even then it wasn’t Maple Lane). There are a number of gigantic old trees here, you can see my bike resting beneath one. The graves are mostly quite old, dating back to the 19th century, although I think the newest was dated the late 1960s. There was even one for a child who was not quite two when he died:
The names of those buried here are mostly German: Stüwe, Oberst, Krause, Schmidt, Elwert, Hanke, Bremer, Wahn, then unexpectedly a McCann, and a US serviceman, William Rehwalt who died in 1942. One of the tall pillar type headstones was engraved in the old Fraktur, with a Bible quote (John 
5:24). It’s on the right in this photo. I could translate some of it, but my German is pretty rusty. I knew this area had been home to German settlers, there’s even a road called Germantown. The small, low markers were nearly covered by leaves, I don’t think there’s anyone taking care of this cemetery anymore. I didn’t stay too long, but I may go back sometime. I’m not German, but if this is of any value to someone doing genealogy research on any of these families there it is.
I was also able on the ride back to get a couple decent shots of Mt. Hood, our dormant local volcano. The first one is a zoomed shot, the second one shows how far I actually was from the mountain (it’s about an hour’s drive):
And last, but not least, were these pretty horses out grazing:
12/12 UPDATE: Apparently someone (the city, most likely) is still maintaining this little cemetery. Sometime last weekend, or late last week, all the leaves were removed, and it looks very nice and tidy now.
