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A fascinating story exists just below Seattle's surface, buried in the city's many historic cemeteries. Founded in 1872 on land acquired from Doc Maynard, Lake View Cemetery holds the remains of one of Seattle's favorite sons, Bruce Lee, whose son Brandon Lee is buried beside him. Maynard is also buried here, along with most of the Seattle pioneers, including the Dennys, Borens, Maynards, Yeslers, and Morans. Princess Angeline, Chief Sealth's daughter, was buried here in a canoe-shaped coffin, and Madame Damnable's remains supposedly turned to stone. Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery, founded in 1884 by the Denny family, contains Judge Thomas Burke, known as "the man who built Seattle"; a Veterans' Memorial Cemetery dating from the Civil War; and two cannons from the USS Constitution, famously nicknamed "Old Ironsides." Mount Pleasant Cemetery, founded in 1883 in Queen Anne, is the final resting place of the labor martyrs of the Everett Massacre and William Bell, of Belltown fame. Remembrance benches for Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix's memorial are also local landmarks.

During the mid-19th century, coffins were built with a drawstring bell to serve as an alarm in case one had the misfortune of being buried alive. It is believed that several such coffins reside in Tacoma's cemeteries. Fortunately, there are no reports of bells ringing in the middle of the night. Tacoma has numerous Victorian cemeteries that house renowned pioneers, like Thea Foss, Angelo Fawcett, and Brig. Gen. John W. Sprague, a hero of the Civil War who cofounded Tacoma and served as the city's first mayor. Several cemeteries are dying to tell their story and have not seen a visitor in over a century. Some have been abandoned completely, while others have been relocated numerous times. A number of graves that should have been moved are still in their original places. Tacoma residents will be astonished to learn the whereabouts of several unmarked graves, including some located along a very familiar piece of highway.

The Oregon Coast has been the site of shipwrecks even before Lewis and Clark's arrival in 1805. Even as the population grew, the federal government let the Oregon Coast go unguarded by lighthouses and lifesavers for decades. Economic and political pressures finally forced the government to build the first Oregon lighthouse in 1857 at the Umpqua River. The LifeSaving Service followed in 1878 with a station at the mouth of Coos Bay. Eventually, most of the harbor entrances and headlands were protected by both the Lighthouse Service and the LifeSaving Service, the precursor to today's Coast Guard. Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Oregon Coast commemorates the true heroes who served to warn, protect, and rescue those who went to sea.

Washington's storm-ridden outer coast stretches from Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River, to Cape Flattery, at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a distance of about 150 miles. Historians have labeled these waters "the Graveyard of the Pacific" and "the Unforgiving Coast." Despite their hazards, sea routes to, from, and along the coast have been busy. Maritime fur traders and explorers, warships, Gold Rush shipping, passenger vessels, lumber carriers, break-bulk freighters, container ships, and tankers have plied these waters. Concurrently, fisheries developed along the coast, adding to the number of vessels at risk. To assist mariners sailing these waters, the United States built its first lighthouse on the Washington coast at Cape Disappointment in 1856. Additional lighthouses, lightships, and lifesaving stations soon followed. With more than 180 images from archives throughout the Pacific Northwest, this collection documents their history.