The new owners of the Mountain View Cemetery in Centralia have received a certificate of authority for the property and now offer interment rights for existing and future burial spaces and niche spaces.
The sale, announced in May, closed the latest chapter in an 18-month-long saga after Lewis County foreclosed on the property in January 2023 and repossessed it as the owner fell three years behind on property taxes. Established in 1899, the cemetery sits on 28.3 acres at 1113 Caveness Drive in Centralia.
After the foreclosure, the plat was initially put up for auction with a starting bid of $53,481, an offer that produced no takers. In January, the sale’s price was lowered to $36,317.23, the amount of taxes owed on the property, which again did not produce an interested buyer.
According to the Lewis County Treasurer’s Office, the land sold for $2,001, one dollar more than the minimum asking price.
In an interview with The Chronicle, new owners Father Gary Graveline Sr. and Rector Stephen Morrison said they planned improvements for the property, including repaving cracked roads and repairing a small structure near the entrance.
The building will be staffed and serve as an office for the cemetery. The office will be open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays when funerals are scheduled until noon.
As the property sat in limbo, residents established a “Restore Mountain View Cemetery” Facebook page and volunteered efforts to maintain and improve the land.
For more than a year, around a dozen volunteers visited the property three or four times per week with weed-whackers, lawnmowers and garbage bags to restore gravesites.
In a news release, Graveline, who serves as chief operating officer of Mountain View Cemetery Centralia LLC, said the cemetery continues to seek volunteers for weed whacking and mowing as the company purchases equipment.
Those interested in volunteering can contact the office at 360-506-1793.
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