It's a sunny Monday as I drive out to Sherman, one of Lincoln County's few ghost towns. I head west on U.S. Route 2 from Spokane for about an hour before reaching the small town of Creston. After passing through its core, I take a right on North Mt. View Road.
Almost immediately my car begins to leave a continuous plume of dust in my wake, and eventually the pavement turns to gravel. I continue on the hilly road for about 10 minutes, when I finally reach Sherman. The only signs a town once stood here are a well-preserved church and a cemetery.
Once I make it up the long driveway to the church, I'm met with a stark white structure that looks almost as if divine intervention has protected it from the seasons. The building's exterior is peppered with arched windows, including one above the entryway filled with stained glass in the primary colors.
The cemetery, which was founded in 1892, is directly behind the church. A long chain-link fence surrounds the relatively small patch of green grass and its thriving trees that sit quietly among the surrounding miles of yellow and gold agricultural land. There have to be at least 100 plots in the cemetery, and each has been lovingly cared for over the years by a caretaker from the Sherman Cemetery Association, despite the rust-colored stains on many of the oldest headstones.
In 1880 people began to settle in this area and continued to do so for nearly a decade before establishing the town. At the time it was platted by George Sherman in August 1888, the town had only three streets: Douglas, Lincoln and Sherman.
George Sherman, who, like many of the town's first inhabitants, migrated from Virginia, also served as the first postmaster, according to An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country, a huge historical book by Arthur P. Rose and Richard F. Steele.
"For fourteen years, he was the obliging and popular postmaster and in addition to these duties continued to improve his farm and handle his merchandise," Rose and Steele wrote. "He is now one of the wealthy men and has the confidence and good will of all."
Established: 1888
Decline: Beginning in 1905, when the Sherman post office closed
Location: Lincoln County, Washington
Distance from Spokane: 56 miles; 1.3 hours
Original structures remaining: A well-maintained church and cemetery
At the time, Sherman only had a post office, blacksmith shop and a few residences. Later it added shops, a sawmill, church and cemetery, and a schoolhouse. The town began to decline less than two decades after it was platted when the post office closed in 1905. Rural postal delivery began in Wilbur, so service in Sherman was discontinued.
Though the town eventually faded away, the Sherman Presbyterian Church hasn't been forgotten. Complete with a conical steeple, the building is coated in what looks like a fresh coat of bright white paint. An original stairway entrance remains, but a newer wheelchair ramp is also affixed to the building as further evidence it's still used by the surrounding community.
Some of the adjacent Sherman Cemetery's plots are even yet to be occupied. Among the ornate headstones are those pre-engraved with only a name and birth date, but no date of death. Small American flags and all types of faux flowers scattered throughout the graveyard rustle in the breeze. A Memorial Day celebration is still held here every year.
Some of the oldest graves are a reminder that Sherman boomed during a time when infant mortality was nearly 10 times higher than today. Flanking mother Annie Robertson's headstone, which notes her death in 1910, are her two sons: Archie David, who died in his first year, and Wesley, who died less than a month after his birth.
While a few other graves for infants and toddlers are scattered throughout the cemetery, many memorialize those who experienced long, full lives in and around this Eastern Washington ghost town. Their memories, like the few other remnants of Sherman, remain today thanks to those who continue taking the time to preserve the past. ♦
