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By Diana Brake 3/19/2010

If you really want to learn the history of a place, go to a cemetery.  There are many such fine places in Cincinnati but I am partial to Spring Grove.  With over 220,000 internments covering several hundred acres there are many stories to explore and tell.  Although the cemetery was not chartered until 1845 many people who had died decades before were moved to this new location from other graveyards.  The first burying grounds were in the basin of the city and had become overcrowded, overgrown and according to Dr. Daniel Drake, a possible health hazard to the living.  He knew the pain, having nowhere else to bury his beloved wife.  

So it began that a group of successful men who had made their fortunes and wanted to improve the city initiated a search to find a proper burying ground away from the city, which was smoggy, dirty and full of hogs on their march to the slaughterhouses. Spring Grove began with the 166 acre Garrard farm for which they paid $15,800.   Spring Grove has now expanded to over 700 acres insuring room for burials into the next 100 years.  More than a land of the dead, Spring Grove is alive with stories of our past, those who built our city, invented products, made music, art and a way of life we now enjoy.  

One of the interesting early re-internments is the story of Colonel Robert Elliot.  He was a large man, described as being over six feet tall and well over 200 pounds. He was on a scouting mission on what is now Winton Road when approached by the native inhabitants who did not exactly welcome him into the neighborhood.  In fact, they knocked him off his horse and were about to scalp him.  As they reached for his hair, they pulled away his wig! One can only wonder what they must have thought.  He was killed, his servant ran back to get help.  The body was retrieved the following day and given full military burial at Fourth and Walnut.   He was later moved to the 12thStreet graveyard and finally to Spring Grove in 1858.  

There are so many stories to tell, the street names, and the buildings, the schools the business that were named for someone who lived here and is now buried at Spring Grove.  I can’t wait to tell you more. Please feel free to email me and schedule a walking tour on a topic of your choice at docentdi@mac.com.