Fishers Cemetery
16509 Evergreen Highway
Vancouver, Clark County, Washington
360-693-1562 or (360) 696-8156 or 360-696-8177
Also known as Fisher’s Landing
Directions
This cemetery is 9 miles SE of Vancouver and 4 miles W of Camas, situated between the Columbia River and Lewis and Clark Highway (Wwy.14). It is at the intersection of Evergreen Highway and SE 164th Avenue, on the right when traveling west on Evergreen Highway. Go south on SE 164th in Vancouver, WA, go under WA 14, and you will dead-end at Evergreen Highway in front of the cemetery and historic marker.
History
The members of the pioneer Fisher family rest in a small cemetery located south of the Old Evergreen Highway and just east of Southeast 164th Avenue. Established in 1852, Fisher Cemetery is Clark County’s oldest pioneer burial ground. William Simmons donated an acre of his land for the site in honor of his first wife, Ann J. Fisher Simmons. According to Find a Grave, the earliest recorded death at this site was in 1852, belonging to baby Alva James Goodwin.
They are gone but not forgotten; the cemetery and surrounding area are named Fisher.
In 1850, a well-known family of six brothers and sisters departed from Missouri by wagon train. The siblings included Solomon, John, Adam, Job, Ann Jemima, and Rachel. Ann Jemima was married to William Mortimer Simmons, while Rachel was engaged to H.M. Knapp, another prominent pioneer in the East County area.
William and Ann Simmons traveled with their five children, two of whom tragically died along the way. They took out a donation land claim located east of 164th Avenue. Solomon also filed a claim, which was situated to the west of 164th Avenue. Adam Fisher’s claim was located to the north and included what is now known as Cascade Park.
Solomon, who would become the most well-known member of his family, established a riverboat landing at the foot of 164th Avenue. This landing developed into a community known as Fisher’s Landing, where he was once considered for the county seat. Today, the entire area is called Fisher’s Landing, although the docks and most of the historic buildings have long since disappeared.
Fisher’s Landing continued to grow during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. By 1911, a business directory listed four general merchandise stores, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable, a cannery, various other businesses, and a school and churches.
In recent history, all of the businesses have closed, and many pioneer homes have been demolished. Only a few rotting pilings remain along the edge of the Columbia River, marking the spot where Fisher’s Landing once existed.
According to Geraldine F. Gilman in The Columbian (9 April 1981), several unmarked graves in the southern part of the cemetery belong to some of the earliest settlers, including members of the Hudson’s Bay Company. This is likely due to an early Hudson’s Bay village that existed around the 1830s, located near the intersection of Fisher Road (SE 164th Ave) and East Mill Plain Road.
Additional information
The Historical Marker Database
Fisher Cemetery in Fishers Landing
Obituaries for burials in the Fisher Cemetery-Rootsweb
Visit the Fishers Cemetery Website
