Granville in Licking County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Old Colony Burying Ground, 1805
Granville, Ohio, was settled in 1805 by the Licking Company, a group formed in Granville, Massachusetts, and Granby Connecticut, for the purpose of emigrating west. The Old Colony Burying Ground was defined on the first town plat of Granville in 1905. Many of Granville's pioneers are interred within this ground, and the cemetery retains its original form and most of its westward facing rows of sandstone and marble gravestones. The early settlers buried here helped lay out this town and determined the appearance and development of the village as it is today. The first burial, the infant son of Ethan Bancroft, was in April 1806. The oldest extant gravestone is dated 1808. Eighteen veterans of the Revolutionary war, thirty-nine from the War of 1812, and sixteen Civil war veterans rest here along with ministers, farmers, industrialists, physicians, young mothers, children, and other citizens of Granville.
The Old Colony Burying Ground has many signed and masterfully carved monuments and gravestones that provide a history of gravestone motifs between 1808 and 1880. Found within this ground are excellent examples of the work of local carvers and sculptors, including Thomas and Rollin Hughes, Manley Whipple, and the DeBow brothers. The early markers are of locally quarried sandstone, while many of the later ones are of marble, which was shipped to Granville via the Granville Feeder from the Ohio and Erie Canal. In 1886, Charles Webster Bryant recorded and numbered the location and epitaphs of all visible gravestones, providing important historic information no longer visible today. The cemetery has been called the Old Colony Burying Ground since 1912 when the wrought-iron entrance gates were erected by the Granville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Old Colony Burying Ground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Erected 2006 by The Granville Historical Society and The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 21-45.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Settlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Ohio Historical Society / The Ohio History Connection series lists. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1806.
Location. 40° 3.95′ N, 82° 31.209′ W. Marker is in Granville, Ohio, in Licking County. Marker is on South Main Street (Ohio Route 661) south of Elm Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Granville OH 43023, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. A different marker also named Old Colony Burying Ground (within shouting distance of this marker); The Granville Academy / The Anti-Slavery Movement (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Granville's Welsh Hills (about 700 feet away); St. Luke's Episcopal Church (about 700 feet away); Bank of the Alexandrian Society (about 700 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Granville.
Also see . . .
1. Old Colony Burying Ground. Granville Township cemeteries website entry (Submitted on July 7, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
2. Granville Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution Old Colony Burying Ground.
In order to carry out a plan upon which we had set our hearts, we concentrated all of our energies upon that object - the erection of a Memorial Gate in the Old Colony Burying Ground. It has four masonry columns of gray sandstone, thirty inches square. The two center columns, seven feet high, open on the driveway; they are connected by folding iron gates, and spanned by an iron arch, in ornamental scroll-work, bearing the legend, "Old Colony Burying Ground, 1805." The two outer columns connect with the center ones by gates which open onto the footpaths. A tin box containing a record of the erection of the gate, a copy of the program of the day, and a paper bearing the name of each member of the chapter with that of her Revolutionary ancestor was placed in one of the columns. Hetuck Chapter of Newark, Ohio attended the dedication in a body and thus added to the enthusiasm of the occasion. The gates were dedicated with impressive ceremonies on Memorial Day, May 30, 1912.By Mrs. John Ernest Shepardson, historian, Granville Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution (Submitted on May 16, 2023, by Carolyn Sanders of Plano, Texas.)
Credits. This page was last revised on May 24, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 12, 2006, by Elia J. Prats of Columbus, Ohio. This page has been viewed 2,482 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 12, 2006, by Elia J. Prats of Columbus, Ohio. 3. submitted on July 10, 2010, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. 4. submitted on December 12, 2006, by Elia J. Prats of Columbus, Ohio. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. submitted on July 10, 2010, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. • J. J. Prats was the editor who published this page.