Cemetery With an Interesting Story- Lebanon, Ohio

 

While driving through South Lebanon, Ohio I found an interesting cemetery called Deerfield Cemetery. It caught my eye while driving up the hill on the windy Shawhan rd. I pulled my car into the cemetery to walk around and see what was there. You can tell it's a very old cemetery, there's not a lot of bells and whistles. Mostly consists of just the graves. You can drive in the cemetery, but  much of the cemetery is located on the side of a hill. There is a flat area to drive on when you first pull in, but the rest of the roadways are going around the hill. 

I later found out that the first recorded burial in this cemetery was in 1801. Which makes sense, because there are many graves of people who were born and had died in the 1800s. Many of the older graves were situated on the hillside facing away from the road. The graves being on a hillside, makes it a little less convenient for visitors, but as I said those are mostly very old graves. Probably not many visitors anymore, however they do have a few steps down to help you get down the side of the hill if you want to check them out.

There were a few older graves that I thought were interesting. Some so old, they were eroded to where you couldn't read them. There was a plot that looked like it was supposed to be the husband and wife. The wife was buried there, but there was no date for the husband (born in 1848). It makes you curious about what happened there. There was also a very tall, obelisk shape monument that stood out to me. It said "King" and it was surrounded by some smaller gravestones that I assume to be other family members.

I did see that there were some newer graves down towards the flat end of the cemetery, as you could see decorations on some of them. However, I am mostly interested in seeing the older graves so I didn't wander that way.

This cemetery is actually in a very beautiful spot. If you stand at the top of the hill, you can see the houses all the way down the hill. If you look towards the roadway, there are rolling hills of farmland on the other side of the road. 

Additionally, there is a small memorial park right next to the cemetery called Willard E. Spicer Park with a small playground, picnic shelter and walking path if you wanted to stop there as well. I think if you are interested in older cemeteries and are in the area, it might be worth a visit.