Juliet North was only a month old when she died in 1834. There was no cemetery in Mount Vernon at the time, so it was up to her father, Darius, a local merchant, to choose a burial spot for her small body.
He chose a hill just north of town, one covered in maple trees and high enough to remain above the flood waters of the Ohio River. Over the next six decades, more than 500 Mount Vernon residents were buried in what became known as North Cemetery. Interments included Civil War soldiers, a locally-famous judge, victims of two cholera epidemics and the bodies from at least two hangings.
But by 1899, with concerns that the bodies might contaminate local drinking water, the cemetery was closed. Over the next century, the monuments and markers were left to gradually decay. Some of the ground was used by Mount Vernon High School for athletic fields. Eventually, the graveyard — with many headstones still in place — was used as the playground for Hedges Central Elementary School.
"When we were in school, there were tombstones all the way from Eighth Street to Sixth Street," said Posey County Historical Society President Becky Higgins. "It was our playground. We played funeral at recess. And in art class, we'd sit on the tombstones and draw pictures of the trees. It was just an unloved and forgotten cemetery."
Whatever marker was placed at the grave of Juliet North is long gone, as are most of the others. But now, the Posey County Historical Society — with lots of help from others in the community — is trying to restore some dignity to the final resting place for many of the town's pioneers.
"This cemetery was in such neglect," said historical society treasurer Judy Whitten. "But we just felt, even though it was 177 years late, it was high time to do something with this cemetery. We are thankful for the stones that are here and sorry for the ones that are not."
When it was in use, the cemetery was at times known by other names, including Maple Grove Cemetery and Leonard Cemetery. But historical society members decided since Juliet North was the first person buried on the grounds, the official name should remember her.
On Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., the historical society will dedicate a memorial area in a small section of the original North Cemetery grounds. Larry Wentzel, owner of Wentzel Monuments in Mount Vernon, has helped in the attempt to rehabilitate the grave markers.
Some of the funding for the memorial project came from the board of the Old Beech Cemetery, also near Mount Vernon, which was looking for a community project. Other money has come from fundraisers — including the sale of chocolate tombstones at Halloween.
Visitors to North Cemetery today will see only a handful of gravestones, but the original cemetery covered more than four acres. Local historians believe some of those graves — possibly those of Union soldiers from the Civil War — may have been disturbed by the construction of Mount Vernon High School's football field (now the site of the baseball field) several decades ago.
"We all have to understand that rules and regulations were different back then," said Whitten. "When they were preparing the land down the hill for the ball fields, they found Civil War buttons off of uniforms. But nobody stopped the work."
Among those buried on the hill in Judge John Pitcher, who came to Mount Vernon from Rockport, Ind., where he had once loaned his law books to Abraham Lincoln. Pitcher also mentored Alvin Hovey, a Posey County resident who was elected as Indiana's governor in 1889.
Pitcher's grave marker is gone, as is that of his daughter, Kate Pitcher Whitworth. But the historical society has placed new stones in the memorial area as a tribute to the family.
The town's second battle with cholera in 1873 was the beginning of the end for North Cemetery. Survivors were uneasy about having the victims buried so close to town. So they began burying them in Bellfontaine Cemetery, two miles away.
The last burials came in 1899. Two of the last people buried there were young men convicted of theft and executed in a public hanging. Research indicates they were likely buried near the outfield of what is now a youth baseball field.
There are almost certainly more gravestones buried on the hill, but how many there are and what condition they are in is unclear.
"We have to take a class, called a 'probing class,' through the Department of Natural Resources," said Higgins. "That way, we can look for stones. But some of the stones have just walked away."
"Back in the '40s and '50s, the stones were removed and put on the courthouse square during Halloween," said Whitten. "And a lot of the stones were thrown away or stolen or whatever. So we've been telling people that if they've come into the possession of a stone from North Cemetery, they can return it with no questions asked."
Other than four vault covers, the stones in the memorial area have been moved. But few of those stones were still in their original location, and they were in danger of further deterioration.
"We are trying to protect the stones," said Higgins. "There is no reason to feel bad about moving them. They have been moved through time and erosion."
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