About Us

We are the Mendocino - Little River Cemetery District

This is an aerial photograph of the Little River Cemetery with a view of the Pacific Ocean in the background and California Route 1 in the foreground. — Little River Cemetary ***photo credit: Bill Brazil's son***

Mendocino Little River Cemetery District is a public cemetery and Special District formed by the County Board of Supervisors in 1950, pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 8890.

Funding comes from county taxes and is financially overseen by the County Auditor.

There are four cemeteries in the District; Hillcrest and Evergreen in Mendocino, Little River, and Caspar.

The District boundaries are Navarro to the South, Hare Creek to the North and inland at various points, all within District 5.

A five member board is appointed by the County Board of Supervisors, after nomination by the District.

If you have any questions please visit our Contact Us page.

Photo of tombstones and a graveyard with beautiful clouds and a skyline created by trees, with a road that leads in to the graveyard.

Evergreen Cemetery

Established in 1864. Land for the cemetery was deeded by Jerome C. Ford. Many of the original Mendocino families are buried here, including the Fords, Escolas and Faulkners. There are many unmarked graves along both the West and East fences which are burials of loggers and sailors. An unknown sailor was unearthed at the Mendocino Headlands during the 1980’s and the remains were subsequently…

Hillcrest Cemetery

Owned and managed at one time by the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, established in 1863 and later deeded to the Cemetery District. Many of the Portuguese, Irish and Swedish residents were buried here. There is a section that was set aside for Chinese burials. Francisco Faria is the oldest person in the cemetery, born February 14,1798 and died October 31, 1904, at the age of 105 and after…

Caspar Cemetery

Established in the 1860’s at the time the Caspar Mill was established. At one time it overlooked the bay but trees now obscure the view. There are approximately 680 burials and is the only cemetery that allows “Green Burials”.

Little River Cemetery

Established around 1863, the first known burial was of Katie Pullen who died of measles at one year of age after having survived an ocean voyage with her family from Maine to Little River, California in 1864. There are many old burials that have not been recorded and no longer have wooden markers. The cemetery was closed to any new plot purchases in 2010 due to the inaccuracies in mapping and…

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