Cemetery caches have always been some of my favorites. Whether it be the history of the site or the personal stories, they always hold some fascinating information. But this area also has a number of famous or should I say “infamous” abandoned cemeteries that I contend hold just as much fascination. This series is to shed some light on these former graveyards and hopefully spark your interest in their stories as well. I give you… “Abandoned Cemeteries of the Columbus Area.”
This cache sits on the boundary of two abandoned cemeteries in Delaware. Given their proximity only a single cache was able to placed.
Old St. Marys’ Cemetery
In 1999, site work for a new office building began at what appeared to be an empty lot on South Sandusky Street in Delaware. Much to the chagrin of the property owner, the work uncovered unmarked graves. A lot of unmarked graves.
The land, it turned out, had once been the cemetery for St. Marys’ Catholic Church. According to the Memorial Record of St. Mary’s Parish, a lot of a little less than two acres was purchased there in 1857 and used to inter Delaware’s Catholic faithful for 40 years.
By 1897, the burial ground was described by the Rev. Philip Steyle as “a disgrace to the congregation, especially in the manner in which it was kept.” Ten acres was purchased along the south edge of Oak Grove Cemetery, across Sandusky Street and further south, which was consecrated in 1898.
The land where the old cemetery lay changed hands several times and the dead were forgotten—until the work crews uncovered 274 burials, which were moved by the parish and the Columbus Diocese to the newer cemetery. Questions about legal ownership of the land considering the many burials there were settled in 2004 in favor of the new owner, with no objection from St. Marys’ Parish.
Delaware Mausoleum
Burial grounds are not always…well, in the ground. In the early 20th century, community mausoleums were all the rage (for an impressive existing example check out Greenlawn Abbey in Columbus at www.greenlawnabbey.org).
In 1912, the Delaware Mausoleum Co., a private company, opened a 300-crypt mausoleum on South Sandusky Street across from Oak Grove Cemetery. The marketing pitch touted the modern advantages of above-ground interment in “a little room perfectly dry, where neither water, nor damp nor mould entereth…It being endowed in perpetuity, this place…will not be desecrated by alien hands as is too often the case in abandoned cemeteries.”
Alas, only about half of the crypts were sold—not enough to fund maintenance in perpetuity. The structure was closed to further entombments in 1974 due to its poor condition, both from lack of maintenance and vandalism. Its stained-glass windows broken or stolen, the building was open to the elements, was a favorite roost for pigeons and was eventually condemned by the city.
In February 1999, the mausoleum’s remaining 147 bodies were moved “by alien hands” across the street to Oak Grove Cemetery, where they were buried beneath two panels listing their names and birth and death dates.
Later in 1999, the building was demolished. The total cost to the City of Delaware for removal, reburial and demolition was about $150,000. The lot remains vacant today.