Mt. Vernon Cemetery

Introduction

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This small, rural cemetery was established in 1841 by a private organization, the Mt. Vernon Burial Ground Corporation. It is the final resting place of many of the settlers and early residents of this portion of Washington Township, including the Crissman, Burt, Townsend, Thorington, Axford, Fangboner, Farmer, and Cole families. Although the unincorporated village of Mt. Vernon did not flourish past the mid-nineteenth century because the railroad lines bypassed it, the cemetery has remained active. It is now administered by Washington Township.

Images

Mt. Vernon Cemetery sign, 2020

Mt. Vernon Cemetery, looking northeast from Mt. Vernon Road, 2020

Elihu Townsend gravestone, Mt. Vernon Cemetery, date of death May 15, 1834

Backstory and Context

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The organizational meeting of the Mt. Vernon Burial Ground Corporation was held on February 27, 1841, and Mt. Vernon resident John Burt was elected president of the new association. Although the association was not formally organized until 1841, some headstones in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery predate 1841, indicating that the location was already being used as a burial ground at that time.

Mt. Vernon was settled in the 1820s by emigrants from New Jersey and New York states. As Washington Township had been named for George Washington, the settlers in the southwest portion (sections 19 and 30) of the new township named their small hamlet for Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. A U.S. post office was established at Mt. Vernon in 1833, and William Austin Burt was appointed to serve as postmaster. Burt, arguably the most notable resident of Mt. Vernon, was famous as the inventor of the first typewriter device used in the United States, and as the inventor of the solar compass. He served as a Deputy United States Surveyor and was respected in scientific circles. He and his wife were buried at first in Mt. Vernon Cemetery, but in 1888 their remains were moved to Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

At its high point, Mt. Vernon boasted two churches—Baptist and Methodist, a rural school, a wagon shop, a general store, and a Blacksmith shop. When the railroad lines were built through Rochester and Romeo, bypassing Mt. Vernon, the small settlement faded away. The U.S. post office was discontinued in 1905. The Baptist church disbanded in 1926 and the building was razed, as was the school. Today, only the Mt. Vernon Cemetery and Mt. Vernon Methodist Church remain to mark the settlement at 28 Mile and Mt. Vernon roads.

The nine-acre cemetery is edged with a decorative iron fence that was designed by Flora Fangboner. The cemetery's operation is currently administered by Washington Township.

Sources

Eli B. Smith, et al., to the Directors of the Mt. Vernon Burying Ground, 9 February 1858, one-half acre of land in section 30, Washington Township, Macomb County Record of Deeds, liber 39, p.496.

Hiram Calkins and Abigail Calkins his wife to the Officers of the Mt. Vernon Burying Ground Society, 5 March 1861, one acre of land in section 30, Washington Township, Macomb County Record of Deeds, liber 39, p.497.

"Heritage Preserved," Rochester Eccentric, June 28, 1973, p.3.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Deborah Larsen