A brief visit to Greenville Pioneer Cemetery

Here's a brief video slideshow about Washington Township's Greenville Cemetery, using photos I shot during a November visit several years ago. This is one of my favorite Lucas County cemeteries, commenced on Aug. 5, 1849, with the burial of 46-year-old Nancy Payne whose death was the first among Washington Township pioneers.

A majority of the marked graves here date from the 1850s and 1860s; the last known burial took place during September of 1902. The Russell Cemetery, established during the spring of 1879 some 12 years after the town  itself was founded in 1867, became the favored place for burial in Washington Township after that.

Greenville never was tampered with, however, and degrees of maintenance varied over the years. About 2001, the Lucas County Pioneer Cemetery Commission assumed responsibility for it, installed a new fence, repaired broken and fallen stones  and continues to maintain it. Lucas County also made minor improvements to the grassed public right-of-way.

Be warned that some of the informational slides contain a little too much information to be read conveniently as the video progresses. If interested, just hit "pause" to read at your leisure, then proceed.