Fred Just, of Seabeck, who has been fighting to have the Seabeck cemetery property restored and returned from the Central Kitsap School District, said last Friday talks with the district are moving forward.

The school district had contended the roughly two-and-a-half acres it owns between the graveyard and the shuttered Seabeck Elementary School were legally the property of the district, but said last month it would investigate Just’s contention that it was illegally sold to the district in 1956.

“We are in conversation with Mr. Just on this matter,” said David Beil, spokesman for the district. Because it is a legal matter, the district cannot provide details, he said.

Just, a local historian, said he wants as much of the original five-acre parcel restored and returned to the people of Seabeck. The district does not own property where burials have occurred.

Just said there are approximately 200 people buried at the cemetery. The first burial was in 1860.