History

Since it was established in 1881, the Comet Lodge cemetery site has been whittled away to less than half its original 5 acres. Records are sketchy but it’s safe to say that some 5oo pioneers were buried here, atop unknown numbers of native Duwamish people. New burials ended in the 1930s. Since then, homes and streets were built on top of many of the plots as the neighborhood around the cemetery grew. Upkeep and ownership of the cemetery bounced between the city, civic groups, relatives of Comet Lodge residents, and nearby neighbors. For years, much of the property was allowed to deteriorate into brambles until the city agreed to simple grounds maintenance. Today, about 20 headstones remain although it is very doubtful they are in their original locations. The rest of the markers are long gone, stolen, broken, or simply returned to the earth. What’s left of the Comet Lodge is a quiet block of green grass and large trees sheltering those who still rest there.

Hauntings & Lore

Before 1881, Comet Lodge Cemetery was a burial ground for the Duwamish people of Seattle. When the first white settlers came to Georgetown in June 1851, led by Luther Collins and his family, they buried their dead in the same area. Most of Seattle’s earliest white residents are entombed at Comet Lodge, including the Maple family, who were some of the first to be buried.

Georgetown residents believe the City of Seattle made a mistake when it decided, in 1987, to gut parts of the cemetery for commercial and residential use.

Despite a statement from King County in 1954 that the portion of land the City of Seattle was interested in “includes the graves or remains of deceased persons buried therein,” the City of Seattle went ahead in 1987 and bulldozed several grave sites along a strip of the cemetery before building homes atop the graveyard.

Location