Cowlitz County Cemetery Dist. #2 - Kerns-Bozorth Cemetery

The Kerns-Bozorth Cemetery is located about 1 mile northeast from the I-5 Freeway in Woodland. It is on a low hill with a view of the valley below.

From 1853 to 1876, the burial ground for the local area was located on the bottom land southwest of the present cemetery. The exact location of the original cemetery is unknown. The graves were marked with wooden markers many of them destroyed when a fire swept through the field. The burials were mostly of children of the early pioneers of the Woodland area.

When the Columbia River flooded in 1876 and water covered the graves, it was decided to move the cemetery to higher ground. John Shaw Bozarth set aside an acre of ground from his Donation Land Claim in 1876 and the burials were moved to the higher ground.

During the ensuing years the Kerns (IOOF) Cemetery was cared for by members of the families buried there. The Odd Fellows Lodge took charge in about 1910 and recorded the first plat map at the Cowlitz County Court House in 1911. In 1954, Cowlitz County Cemetery District #2 assumed control of the cemetery and in 1957 a Sexton was employed to maintain the cemeteries.

Records for this cemetery have been reconstructed as accurately as possible. Sources checked were; the sexton records, gravestone inscriptions, conversations with family members, mortuary records and obituaries. Grace Davis and Viola Carson compiled the records in 1985 and the Cemetery District still endeavors to improve and update the records.