Wesleyan Grace

This one could be anywhere, or anywhere on the Dry Side, at least. So I’ve let a couple hints creep in.

This is a Google Maps satellite view of a United Methodist related location in the Pacific Northwest.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is twofold:

1. Pinpoint the location in the photo, using Google Maps. Share the answer with a map link in the comments, AND 
2. Correctly state what the location is, and why it’s United-Methodist related.

Hint: I had no idea this place existed until this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to drive there. More photos (with snow) to follow.

Ta-Daa! The location is the German Methodist Cemetery on Urquhart Rd, west of Benzel, about six miles southeast of Ritzville, Washington. We own a cemetery! Who knew? (Well, others may have known, but they never tell the pastor anything!)

On Wednesday afternoon, a neighbor contacted the Trinity UMC Facebook page, to ask about the cemetery. On Thursday morning, with the thermometer reading 9 degrees, I drove out to the intersection of Benzel & Urquhart. I walked up Urquhart, which wasn’t plowed, to the cemetery.

Here are some images of the morning’s walk.

Sunday updates:

Trinity folks told me a lot more about the cemetery. The most recent burial there was in the 1980s, and the person didn’t have a grave marker.

The church had a cleanup day at the cemetery “a few years ago.” (They didn’t take the frame of the old car, though — that’s been there a while. I kind of like it!)

The cemetery is at the back of the lot, because the front of the lot USED to be the location of the German Methodist Church — the first building, before they moved to town. The original building is now a mile or so south of the cemetery, where it’s now part of a farm. (Do we have another From Above contest coming up??)

And Bill Heinemann, whose parents are buried there, has planted the land in native-type grasses, to help keep weeds down. Also, it’s a good place to visit when it’s NOT high summer, because of ticks & snakes.