About Us
About Red Bluff Cemetery District
Working Hours: Monday thru Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
Closed daily 12:00 to 1:00 for lunch
Observed holidays:
- New Years Day
- President's Day
- Memorial Day
- Fourth of July
- Labor Day
- Veteran's Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Friday after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- New Year's Eve
If a holiday falls on a Saturday, the day off given will be the Friday before the holiday; if it falls on a Sunday the day off given will be the Monday after the holiday.
There will be no services scheduled on holiday weekends.
History
A brief history of the Red Bluff Cemetery District and its cemeteries.
Oak Hill Cemetery was established in 1859 by the Odd Fellows and Masonic Lodges and completed in 1861.
The first property for the cemetery was purchased from A. H. Webb in December of 1859 and with various other additions and deletions, Oak Hill Cemetery now contains about 35 acres.
There were two small cemeteries in Red Bluff prior to the establishment of Oak Hill Cemetery, one at Main and Elm Streets and the other at Oak Street where the Veteran’s Hall now stands. The bodies from these cemeteries were moved to Oak Hill Cemetery in February of 1874.
In October of 1865 the citizens of Red Bluff placed what was said to be the first monument erected in the State of California to the just fallen Abraham Lincoln in the circle at the center of Oak Hill Cemetery. This circle was later established as a Veteran’s Plot and an old cannon, which was referred to as “Black Republican”, was placed therein facing outward towards the main entrance. This cannon was said to have been used by Union followers and was previously located at the foot of Pine Street overlooking the Sacramento River and was fired when there was a Federal victory.
There are many pioneers of the old west buried in Oak Hill, some famous and some not. Among those are Peter French, of Oregon and California “Cattle Baron” fame, and William Kingsly, famed as a gun inventor and Indian hunter. Although William B. Ide is not buried here, several members of his immediate family are. There are many others, such as the Cone and Kimball families, of equal fame or interest which can be found by walking or driving around studying headstones.
Saint Mary’s Cemetery was established by the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Red Bluff in 1883 and contains about five acres. This cemetery was operated by the District for many years by authority of a lease from the Catholic Church. In 1989, the cemetery was formally deeded to the District.
The Red Bluff Cemetery District was established under the laws of the State of California in August 1927 by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Tehama. The newly formed Red Bluff Cemetery District then took over the care of Oak Hill Cemetery, Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Lowrey Cemetery and Belle Mill Cemetery. The Belle Mill Cemetery has been turned over to the citizens of the Belle Mill Cemetery District.
The Lowrey Cemetery about 35 miles southwest of Red Bluff was developed by the church on the property and they made their first burial in April 1880. In April 2002 the Trustees of the Red Bluff Cemetery District declared the Lowrey Cemetery idle and we would not be making any more burials at the cemetery.