I’ve only visited a handful of pioneer cemeteries, but one thing has become painfully clear: many of the oldest have crumbled under the weight of time and vandalism. Finding one that’s been carefully restored is rare, but when it happens, it’s a breath of fresh air! Heath Cemetery in Salem Township stands as a shining example of preservation done right.
Some newspaper articles claim that Salem Township’s cemeteries date back to the 1870s1, but many were established much earlier. Take Heath, for example- its history began in 1828 when Ralph and Mary Heath settled in the township. Just five years later, a relative named Jane Alldredge passed away at the age of forty-two. Hers was the first known burial on the land that would later become Heath Cemetery2.
The Heaths officially deeded their family burial ground to Delaware County officials in 18573. Thirty-two years later, Henry and Emma Reed conveyed the county some additional land as well. Around that time4, another cemetery -Samuel Stewart- sprung up about a third of a mile northwest on Jones Road. Two markers stood on the Stewart farm as late as 1913 or 1914, but the graves were reinterred at Sunderland Cemetery shortly thereafter5.
Even after its northern neighbor disappeared, burials at Heath Cemetery continued through the early 1900s until one outlier, a final interment said to have taken place in 1931. In total, about eighty-four individuals found their final resting place at Heath, including members of the Alldredge, Baxla, Brown, Heath, Jones, Lutz, McClintock, McKimmey, and Tomlinson families. Among them lies another Samuel Stewart! He passed in 1840 at the age of fifty-six or fifty-seven.
Given its hidden location far from the beaten path, Heath Cemetery is full of a surprising number of intricate, imposing monuments. One landmark stands atop the casket of Reverend James Wolford Heath. Born in Guilford County, North Carolina. Heath eventually made his way to Salem Township before he was appointed director of the Muncie & Middletown Turnpike Company in 18676. In the 1870s, he became the trustee of Salem Township for four years before he passed away at fifty-three7.
Another of the most striking monuments at Heath Cemetery marks the final resting place of Peter Lutz. His tombstone, a towering tree stump, is a testament to a unique era in funerary art. Adorned with an intricate scroll and rope, Lutz’s marker reflects a popular gravestone style from the 1880s to the 1920s, a time when cemetery monuments were shifting from traditionally styled obelisks and mausoleums8. Tree-stump memorials carried lots of symbolism, representing the fragility of life and the promise of eternity9. In addition, the notched trunk often signified a life cut short10.
By the time the Heath Cemetery Association was officially founded in 1909, the burial ground had gone five years without a new interment. The following year, the group held its first annual business meeting at the office of Lowell and Alldredge in Muncie’s Spilker Building11. The association announced plans for major improvements to the historic cemetery, but whether those upgrades were ever completed remains a mystery12.
Sadly, subsequent years were not kind to Heath Cemetery. With no direct access from the road, the burial ground became increasingly isolated and reachable only by an overgrown trail. Time took its toll as thick weeds, brush, and tangled undergrowth slowly crept over the graves and obscured the resting places of those buried there.
Worse still, vandals left their mark. Tombstones were toppled, shattered, and scattered, some sinking into the earth while others disappeared altogether. In a shocking discovery, one of the cemetery’s headstones was found dumped in a pump pit at the Muncie Stone and Lime Company miles away from where it once stood13! The desecration underscored the tragic fate of so many forgotten pioneer cemeteries left vulnerable to both time and human neglect.
That’s when the Delaware County Historical Society’s Pioneer Cemetery Preservation Committee stepped in. Determined to save Heath Cemetery from ruin, the group launched a painstaking restoration that worked to reclaim the burial ground from decades of neglect14. Over the next five years, volunteers poured more than 1,500 hours into clearing dense overgrowth, resetting toppled stones, and carefully piecing together broken markers. Some headstones had vanished entirely, lost to time or stolen by malefactors, but the team worked tirelessly to replace missing markers and preserve the cemetery’s history.
Their commitment culminated in a rededication ceremony on August 14, 2011. The proud moment honored both the pioneers buried at Heath Cemetery and the volunteers who had fought to restore their resting place. By the end of the project, all but fourteen monuments had been fully restored15. Heath Cemetery’s restoration breathed new life into one of Salem Township’s oldest burial grounds, and fourteen years later, the cemetery serves as a bridge between the past and present. Hopefully, generations of visitors will continue to pause, reflect, and help ensure that the stories of the pioneers buried there are never lost again.
Sources Cited
1 Spath, C.L. (2007, June 26). Salem Township cemeteries date from 1870s. The Muncie Star Press. p. 21.
2 Kinsey, M. (2011, August 14). Preserving the past. The Muncie Star Press. p. 1.
3 Beautify Old Cemetery (1909, July 18). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
4 (See footnote 1).
5 Cemeteries of Delaware County, Indiana (2018, July). Delaware County Historical Society [Muncie]. Booklet.
6 Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. book, Kingman Brothers.
7 (See footnote 6).
8 Laskow, S. (2018,July 17). Why some gravestones Are Shaped Like Tree Stumps. Atlas Obscura. Web. Retriebed March 22, 2025.
9 Ridlen, S.(1999).Tree-Stump Tombstones: A Field Guide to Rustic Funerary Art in Indiana. Old Richardville publications [Indiana]. Book.
10 (See footnote 5).
11 Hold Cemetery Election (1910, May 9). The Muncie Star. p. 10.
12 (See footnote 3).
13 Investigate vandalism at Heath Cemetery (1948, October 29). The Muncie Star. p. 7.
14 Cemetery work begins Saturday (2008, May 2). The Muncie Star Press. p. 19.
15 Readers name their Star Performers (2011, August 8). The Muncie Star Press. p. 13.
