The names and stories of people buried at Forest Cemetery come alive in weekly walking tour

My writing career has taken me to a lot of places, from the expected (countless concerts and theater productions) to the atypical (an ice cream eating contest and rollercoasters at Silverwood).

So I wasn’t terribly surprised to find myself wandering Forest Cemetery in Coeur d’Alene on a recent Friday, taking notes for a story about the Museum of North Idaho’s murder-themed tour while following volunteer guide Lauren Leiker as she led the group from gravestone to gravestone.

The 90-minute tour is offered every Friday through Aug. 29.

After introducing herself, Leiker, a teacher by day, told us a little about the cemetery.

What is now known as Forest Cemetery was once called Fort Sherman. The post was abandoned when the Army moved to Spokane in the late 1800s. In 1905, the community of Coeur d’Alene petitioned then-President Theodore Roosevelt to give the old military base to the city for a cemetery, a request he granted.

The city would later purchase more land to expand the cemetery.

Before setting off, Leiker eased any potential worries about walking on top of the graves as we moved from stop to stop. For one, she said, it’s nearly impossible to avoid them all given the amount of people interred in Forest Cemetery.

But also, “I’ve talked to them, and they said it’s OK,” Leiker told us.

The tour starts with the gravestone of Marion Gutches, the first person interred at Forest Cemetery, who died in 1881 at the age of 23.

Next up is the marker for Pvt. Timothy Shea, noteworthy because though he is registered as having been reinterred in Spokane along with other servicemen from Fort Sherman, he still lies in Forest Cemetery.

The tour also makes a stop at the gravestone of Fritz Perrenoud, who was neither a murderer nor a murder victim, but someone noted to have seen one of the “dirty rascals of Coeur d’Alene,” Fatty Carroll, around town in the 1890s.

Leiker shared that in more recent years, bones have been found at properties once owned by Carroll.

We also heard about Grant C. Hicks, who was almost sent to prison for two murders he didn’t commit: a murdered man named John Billings, whose killer was sentenced to hang, though there is no record that he ever did, and Constance Cassedy, who is noted for having been one of the first female embalmers in the country.

Leiker, who is in her first summer as a volunteer guide, has a real respect for the people in the cemetery, whether they’re mentioned on the tour or not. As she sets up for the tour, or walks through the cemetery as part of her own research, she will set right any decorations that have fallen over and fix bouquets of flowers that are askew.

Once, after fixing some flowers, Leiker caught a hint of men’s cologne, potentially a “thank you” from the grave, but that’s the most ghostly encounter she’s had thus far.

Leiker said the tour doesn’t include anyone who passed away after 1945 as they likely still have family members living and the museum wants to be considerate to those family members, though it’s worth noting that the stories from the tour are not told in any kind of sensational manner.

Leiker was a very entertaining guide, who was happy to answer questions and share research she was doing to better educate herself about those interred in the cemetery, but she relied on facts and her delivery to do the entertaining.

“That’s why we do these tours, to keep that history alive and remember those people who were once living,” she said toward the end of the tour. “Everyone’s story deserves to be told.”

Annette Nolting, the museum’s development director, agreed with the sentiment when speaking the morning of the tour. As a nonprofit museum, they’re always looking for ways to encourage people to engage in history and their community.

Executive Director Britt Thurman had seen cemetery tours offered from museums around the country and wondered if there was an audience for that in Coeur d’Alene.

The first year, in 2021, the six tours offered sold out almost immediately. The following year, the number of tours doubled but still sold out quickly. Subsequent years have followed the same pattern of sold out tour after sold out tour.

This year, museum staff decided to see if expanding the Forest Cemetery tours, previously only held in September and October, into the summer would be as popular. So far, the answer is yes.

Later this year, there will also be tours of St. Thomas Cemetery where the likes of Matthew Hayden (the lake’s namesake) and James and Teresa Graham, the latter of whom was a prominent business owner and member of the community, are interred.

The museum also plans to offer a one-day-only tour during which actors will portray historical figures buried in the city’s cemeteries. As guests walk from actor to actor, they’ll learn about each historical figure and their contributions to the city.

Along with the cemetery tour, the museum also offers one of three living history walking tours every Saturday, covering either downtown Coeur d’Alene, Old Fort Sherman or Sanders Beach. Tours are limited to 20 people each, so they can fill up quickly.

“A good chunk of downtown is still the original building,” Nolting said. “If you walk down on Sherman, you see things that are original from when the town was built, you learn about the history there, some of the stores, what they used to be and what they are now.”

Through these tours and future educational events, Nolting is hoping people realize history is not just those objects collecting dust in a grandparent’s attic but something that still surrounds us as we go about our everyday lives.

“We’re trying to make history not the stuffy thing that is sitting covered in dust,” she said. “It isn’t just something you do because you’re old now. History’s for everybody.”