Between the Dates

BETWEEN THE DATES: Echoes From The Silent City That Is Greenwood. 

So many life stories, but so few are recorded. Visit any cemetery. Look at any stone. Usually, the only lasting tribute will be a name and two dates. The person was born, and died. In between, something must have happened. For most, the life story lingers in the minds of family and friends, but when they also lie beneath the sod, that life story is gone.

Between The Dates explores the history of the Lower Columbia River area, drawing from records over a century old, to tell the history of the area through the stories of the ones who made that history. Some were prominent, with a reliability of the stars. Others were more like meteors, a mere flash, and then they vanished, leaving a faint tracery against the backdrop of time. All now lie at historic Greenwood Cemetery, south of Astoria, Oregon. Some died before they really lived. Others died before they really died. Some lived fully all their days.

The battle for wealth is here, as well as the battle for survival, for morality, for belonging. Some won the battle. Others lost. Here are the stories of cops and killers, of fishermen and loggers, of politicians and immigrants, of taverns and brothels and ladies of the night. Charles Dickens started his story A Christmas Carol by stating: "Marley was dead, to begin with." So it is with this account. All of the characters are dead, and have been for many decades. Read the lines, and between the lines. Let them tell their stories, the stories that lie Between The Dates.