Thornton Cemetery named Historic Place

Thornton Cemetery was added to the Washington State Register of Historic Places last week.

Members of the state’s council on historic preservation voted last Thursday, Oct. 11, to grant a request from the Thornton Cemetery Preservation Association to put the graveyard on the state list of historic places.

Listing means the cemetery will be maintained and marked as one of the distinctive landmarks of the Thornton community, according to Diane Eastep, a member of the association.

“We’re just so thrilled they put us on the list,” she said Monday.

Eastep said the group aimed for the listing in order to have a cornerstone around which civic improvement efforts can be organized.

Thornton Cemetery Preservation Association is a non-profit group formed earlier this year.