Cemeteries Worth the Visit – Oak Hill Cemetery, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Entrance

Oak Hill Cemetery

Oak Hill Cemetery is located in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  The cemetery was founded in 1875.  Before that a tract of land near Wabash College was used as the cemetery for the town.  It went by various names during the 1800’s including Crawfordville Cemetery, Presbyterian Cemetery, Mills Cemetery, and the Town Cemetery. Many remains were reportedly removed to Oak Hill Cemetery in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  The Crawfordsville Masonic Cemetery, founded in 1866, was acquired by Oak Hill Cemetery in 1997.

James Lee's White Bronze

Cemetery Grounds

There are over 8,000 interments in the cemetery including Indiana Governors, US Congressmen, and the first boy born in Montgomery County, Indiana.   James Lee was born on August 8, 1825.  Lee served as Montgomery County Commissioner from 1870 until December 1876.  During his administration the current Montgomery County Courthouse was built at a cost of $150,000. The building’s corner stone bears Lee’s name.  Lee died on April 28^th, 1884 and rests with his wife Mary Ann, under a white bronze monument.

Inscription on Monument

Nathaniel Willis & Daughter

Crawfordsville native, Nathaniel Parker Willis suffered a tragic death.  He was born on August 21, 1868 and apprenticed for Bayliss Hanna, publisher of the Crawfordsville Record before setting out as a salesman.  His first wife died young and he remarried several years later to Hattie Bell of Ladoga. They had one daughter, Mary Frances Willis. Reports indicate the marriage was not a happy one.  In fact, Hattie took Mary and ran away shortly after they moved to Indianapolis.  Willis searched for his daughter until he discovered her living with her mother and her new husband, W.Y. Ellis in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Willis went to court in Little Rock to secure permission to have his daughter visit him at his hotel there.  On July 27, 1909 while in the Little Rock courtroom, Willis was shot to death by W.Y. Ellis, his former wife’s husband. During the Ellis trial it was shown that Willis had followed all legal manners to secure his rights to visit with his daughter, and had devoted his life to finding her.  His stone stands as a tribute to his dedication as a father.

Did Wabash Win?

Ralph Wilson

Ralph Lee Wilson was only 20 years old when he died as the result of a tragic accident.  Wilson played on the football team for Wabash College during the 1910 - 1911 season, his freshman year.  During the fourth game of the season against Washington University in St. Louis, Wilson fractured his skull during a tackle.  When Wilson regained consciousness he asked, “Did Wabash win?”  He died the following Sunday.  Wabash did win the game that day, 10 – 0, but the rest of the season was cancelled. A memorial was created in honor of Wilson and hangs on Hollett Stadium. On Wilson’s stone, the Wabash College pennant and his immortal question -  “Did Wabash Win?” still tugs at your heart, over one hundred years later.

Mahlon Manson

Manson's Monument

Civil War Union Brigadier General Mahlon Dickerson Manson is buried at Oak Hill.  Manson was severely wounded in the Atlanta campaign. Unable to return to service, he resigned in December 1864.  He served in the U.S. Congress from 1871 to 1873 and was Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1885 to 1886. He died on February 4, 1895 in Crawfordsville.

Lew & Susan Wallace

Lew Wallace

General Lewis ‘Lew’ Wallace and his wife Susan are buried here.  Wallace was the 11th governor of New Mexico Territory.  He served as a Major General for the Union Army in the Civil War, leading troops into the Battle at Shiloh. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Wallace served as the judge in the military trial of the Lincoln conspirators.

Lew Wallace Writing

Wallace's  Novel

Wallace was also the author of one of the best selling novels of the 19^th century and what was considered the most influential Christian book of the 1800’s - Ben-Hur a Tale of the Christ (1880).  This is the book that several movies of the same name have been based on.  Wallace died February 15, 1905 at the age of 77.

Susan Wallace

Susan Wallace, the wife of Lew Wallace, was also a writer.  Her writings were published in over thirty magazines, journals and books of poetry during her lifetime.  She also wrote and published six books: The Storied Sea (1883), Ginevra (1887), The Land of the Pueblos (1888), The Repose in Egypt (1888), Along the Bosphorus and Other Sketches (1898) and The City of the King (1903).  After Lew Wallace died, Susan completed his autobiography.

Tree Stone with Chair

Tree Stone with Broken Branch

History is plentiful in Oak Hill Cemetery where countless city founders, movers and shaker are buried.  There are numerous tree stones of varying detail.  Most with hand carved objects showing the interests and enjoyments of those whose resting places they now mark.

 

 

 

White Bronze Monument

Close up of Detailing on White Bronze

White bronze monuments are also abundant.  From small ‘stones’ to large, intricate monuments, the symbols and epitaphs are easily readable, providing a glimpse into the lives of those resting here.

Oak Hill Cemetery

Angel Statue

Oak Hill Cemetery is located at 392 West Oak Hill Road in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  The office is open Monday through Friday.  Jim Clouse is the Superintendent and Suzi Petrey is Office Manager.  The phone number is (765) 362-6602.  The cemetery does not have a web page or Facebook page.

Egyptian Planter

Guarding the Grave

Plan to spend an afternoon at Oak Hill Cemetery, strolling the rolling grounds covered with towering oaks and maples.  This is a cemetery full of surprises, so take the time to wander among the graves and look for those small details that can tell a lifetime of stories.

~  Joy

Cemeteries Worth the Visit – Oak Hill Cemetery, Evansville, Indiana

Map of Evansville

Oak View Cemetery

Oak Hill Cemetery located in Evansville, Indiana began in 1853. Located along the curve of the Ohio River, this hilly, rural-style cemetery is made up of 175 acres. Although now located in a thriving section of the city, Oak Hill has retained its quiet, Victorian charm.

Map of Oak View in 1800's

Ellen Johnson

The land for the cemetery was originally purchased in 1852 and the first to be buried here was 2-year-old Ellen Johnson on February 18^th, 1853.  A local paper of the times described the land selection as “a “hillock, a wilderness of underbrush and briars, and called at that with a mantle of loess, underlain by sandstone.”

Mission Revival Gate

The cemetery entrance is located on Virginia Street and the drive up to the Mission Revival gate and brick-walled fence is 365 feet long.  Architects William Harris and Clifford Shopbell designed the entrance gate in 1901.

Craftsman Administration Building

Harris and Shopbell also designed the Craftsman style Administration Building in 1899.  It contained an office, waiting room and chapel. The building was remodeled in 1917.  It still contains the central bell tower and massive fireplace, with a 3-sided porch surrounding it.

Oak View Cemetery

Ginkgo Tree

The cemetery grounds are made up of numerous hills.  Most of the landscaping was done between 1853 and 1932 and has grown into a place of beauty and seasonal color.  The cemetery is a treasure-trove of trees, many native to the state of Indiana.   While pine, maple, willow, and oak abound; it was interesting to see several magnolias, and one of the largest ginkgo trees in the U.S. is located here.

Cemetery Lake

A large man-made lake is on the grounds, surrounded by mausoleums crafted from marble, limestone and granite.  Local architects designed many of the mausoleums and their intricately laced doors.  A stone pedestrian walking bridge crosses to a small island where the Mead family (of Mead-Johnson fame) is buried.

Annie F Johnson

 Also buried here is Annie Fellows Johnson, author of the over a dozen of the children’s Little Colonel book series. Born May 15, 1863 in Evansville, Johnson wrote for years about her Little Colonel, a “precocious young girl growing up in aristocratic Kentucky prone to bullying and temper tantrums.”  Over a million of the books were sold at the turn of the century.  The series of Little Colonel books inspired a movie by the same name, starring Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore.

Harrison Marker

Records also indicate the King and Queen of a tribe of Romany Gypsies are buried here.  Elizabeth Harrison, Queen of the Gypsies, died in November 1895, in either, Massachusetts, Mississippi, or Ohio.  Her body was shipped to Oak Hill Cemetery and held in the receiving vault until members of her camp could meet to attend her funeral. Services were finally held on April 1, 1896.  Over 6,000 people were on hand for the graveside services, fifty of them Gypsies.  It was the largest funeral ever held at the cemetery.

Gypsies Camp

On Christmas Eve, 1900, Harrison’s husband, Isaac was buried beside her.  Isaac Harrison, King of the Gypsies, had been killed by a bullet on December 1^st, in Alabama, in a fight between his sons.

Civil War Burial Ground

Oak Hill has a Civil War military cemetery section that includes over 500 Union soldiers and 24 Confederates.  Surrounded by heavy chains, with two Civil War cannons, it is a moving tribute to those fallen men.

Confederate Monument

A Confederate Solider stands at the intersection of two lanes, one that leads to the military section.  The statue was erected at the turn of the twentieth century by the Fitzhugh Lee Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy in remembrance of the 24 Confederate soldiers buried on Yankee soil.

Union Monument

A Union Soldier also stands in Oak View Cemetery as a reminder of the hundreds of local men and boys who died during the Civil War.

Governor Conrad Baker

Other notables interred here include over a half a dozen U.S. congressmen, along with several Civil War officers and Indiana’s 5^th Governor, Conrad Baker.

Autumn in the Cemetery

Assistance on genealogy research is available by contacting Cemetery Superintendent Chris Cooke at ccooke@evansvillegov.org or by calling (812) 435-6045.  For a list of many of those buried here, visit the Vanderburgh County, Indiana InGen Web Project http://www.ingenweb.org/invanderburgh/cemeteries/oakhillcem.htm

Ad Building in1910

Tree Stones

Oak Hill Cemetery is located at 1400 E. Virginia Street in 
Evansville, Indiana. Regular office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. 
Saturday the office is open from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.   At this time the cemetery has no web or Facebook presence.

Contemplation

Oak Hill continues to fulfill its purpose of being a place of relaxation and contemplation.  As first stated in the 1800’s, and still true today, Oak Hill is there for those who “become wearied with the sight of human faces, when the noise and bustle of the city grate harshly on the ear, when we feel an inward yearning for some quiet spot where we may rest in seclusion, undisturbed and alone.”

~ Joy