Sure, Halloween’s over, but you don’t need that excuse to walk amongst the dead, especially when you live in a city that has the Lone Fir Cemetery, founded in 1846. As rich in history as it is in lush foliage and cracking, mysterious tombstones, it’s one of Portland’s most gorgeous “parks.”
Friends of Lone Fir hosts events and tours throughout the year, but they’ve got something coming up that particularly celebrates two of the cemetery’s longest-term residents, the Bottler Brothers. If you run in craft beer circles, you may have heard of the Bottlers, considered to be important founders of the area’s sudsy legacy. From the Oregon Craft Beer site:
The tomb of George Frederick Bottler, “Fred,” a brew pioneer of The Dalles, is one of the forgotten and decaying structures. He was interred in 1865 at the request of his brother, George M. Bottler, who established City Brewery in Portland in 1857 and was also a Portland volunteer fireman, founding member of the German Benevolent Association and a member of Portland’s Masonic lodge #14. George M. was in Bavaria at the time of his brother’s death and may have asked his friend and fellow brewer Edward F. Schrader to erect the tomb and to lovingly memorialize his brother Fred with a 6-foot marble slab reading, “Gently his ashes shall rest.” George M. Bottler later died in Munich, Germany. The tomb, now crumbling in the oldest part of Lone Fir, is one of the first structures built in the cemetery. It paints a picture of two pioneer men, brothers, who arrived in Oregon in 1857, before Oregon’s statehood, and who took part in Oregon becoming America’s brew capital.
To honor their memory and raise funds needed to restore the tomb, Friends of Lone Fir are hosting a benefit dinner on Saturday, Nov 15 at the German American Society called “A Grave Affaire.” In addition to German-style food, the event will feature the unveiling of the “Boettler Bier”: “On Aug. 16th, seven Oregon Brew Crew members had a “beer brew off” at Lone Fir Cemetery. The public tasted ten specialized beers and voted for the brewer and their beer to be recognized as the Boettler Bier.” The winner’s brew will be served at the dinner, and if you can’t make it you’ll also be able to find it at Hopworks Urban Brewery’s Community Tap. Proceeds from the dinner and beer purchases will go toward the Bottler Preservation Project. Today’s the last day for pre-registration (tickets are 50, ahem, bones), and you can find instructions to do so here.
- Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery
Lone Pine? I think someone has Back to the Future on their mind.