Rieff's Chapel Cemetery

Rieff's Chapel Cemetery began in the 1840s with the founding of its pioneer community named after John Rieff, an early settler and farmer who arrived in 1838. The first known burial was of John Rieff's daughter-in-law, Mary Alexander Rieff, on October 19, 1845. The cemetery is bordered on three sides by a rock wall that shows up in property records from the mid-1890s. There was once a windswept pine standing in the center. After this old tree fell, Ed and Eugene Kelly (who lived in Rieff's Chapel community) planted five maple trees in honor of their sisters, with four at each corner and one in the center. Buried here are John Rieff (1787-1870), Philip Kessler (1828-1893), and other notable pioneers. There are about 130 unmarked graves, and an infants' section of these, suggested by the small spaces between stones and the presence of only one marked grave among them labeled “Martha's Child.” Several families had slaves working the farms, and it is possible that they were buried here., Rieff's Chapel, about 200 yards northeast and downhill of the cemetery, doubled as a one-room schoolhouse. The frame building was 860 square feet and painted white. Students through grade eight were seated in thirteen double desks. The first known record of the school is from 1869, when John Rieff donated one acre to school district No.12. The school consolidated with Greenland in 1931, but continued offering services and Sunday School for all ages for many years later. In 1941, it became private property. Today, only the foundation stones and wellhead remain.