Sileo In Pacis - Mt Zion Cemetery Traditional Cache

This is a series highlighting small cemeteries that I have found interesting.

The Mount Zion Cemetery contains the graves of several early members of the Ephrata community. A large monument marks the traditional location of the mass grave of Revolutionary War soldiers who died in the temporary hospital established at Ephrata during the winter of 1777-1778. When the monument was dedicated in 1902, legend said that hundreds of soldiers died at the Cloister. Official records, however, can only account for about 60 men who did not survive the winter. The land beyond the rail fence adjacent to the cemetery was called Fairview Farm in the late 1880s. The farmhouse, home of some of the last members of the German Seventh-Day Baptist Church at Ephrata, stood just beyond the fence.