Read time: 7 min.

My favorite pioneer cemeteries are the ones hidden away out in the middle of nowhere. In my experience, the more remote the burial ground, the better preserved it tends to be, and the older the graves you’re likely to find. Olive Branch Cemetery in Delaware County’s Washington Township fits that mold perfectly. It’s so far off the beaten path that you have to dip into Grant County just to reach it! 

Before it was established, the land on which Olive Branch sits belonged to William Heal. One of the area’s earliest pioneers, Heal arrived in Delaware County in 1827¹ and quickly became a prominent figure. Washington Township’s first church service was held in his home², and so was its first school³. In 1926, Heal’s log cabin was given to the Delaware County Historical Society. The nearly two-hundred-year-old structure now stands at the county fairgrounds⁴. 

Heal’s old log cabin is a fitting tribute to his pioneer spirit, but so is the quiet cemetery he helped create. Today, about five hundred souls rest at Olive Branch. The first was the heartbreaking burial of Heal’s young granddaughter, Rebecca A. Littler, who passed away at just a year and seven months old. Over time, more loved ones were laid to rest on Heal’s property. The land was officially deeded for use as a public burial ground in 1894⁵. Its name honors a long-lost log church that once stood nearby, which, itself, was named in honor of Heal’s wife, Olive⁶.

I first stumbled across Olive Branch Cemetery twelve or thirteen years ago when I was working the night shift at a stressful call center. After clocking out at midnight, my friends and I would hit the backroads to clear our heads. One night, we passed Olive Branch in the dark. We turned around without getting out, but I later retraced my steps. Once my fascination with pioneer cemeteries took off, Olive Branch was one of the first I sought out! Unfortunately, getting there is a little tricky. 

The easiest route I know from Muncie to Olive Branch Cemetery is still pretty confusing. Start by taking Wheeling Pike north to the town of Wheeling. When the road ends at a T-intersection, turn right onto Eaton-Wheeling Pike. Just past the old schoolhouse, take the next left. This road leads to the historic site of Elizabethtown; turn left when you reach it. At the next T -the site of the old Heal Farm- take a right. After about three-fifths of a mile, take the next left. The road snakes around but mostly heads straight, so just keep following it until it curves left again. The cemetery is about a third of a mile past the bend.

That’s the path I took when I first passed the place, but it’s far easier to find Olive Branch Cemetery if you start at the Cumberland Covered Bridge in Matthews. Cross the river and take the first right. The road will eventually curve to the right again; stay on it until you come another right turn; that’s the snaking one that eventually curves left. From there, the cemetery is straight ahead. If all else fails, plug these coordinates into your phone: 40.378670, -85.472693. 

Traveling to Olive Branch Cemetery was much easier, in some ways, back in 1874. Back then, the road from Elizabethtown followed the Mississinewa, curving west, south, north, east, and north again right to the burial ground’s boundaries. In this 1874 atlas, Olive Branch is near the top left of the snippet. There’s also a spring there! I might have to go back and investigate soon. I’m always on the lookout for flowing wells.

At any rate, William and Olive Heal are both buried at Olive Branch, along with generations of families like the Atkinsons, Fights, Milhollins, Needlers, Rodgers, and Sanders. The headstone that first caught my eye belonged to Matilda J. Needler, who died in 1881.

Cast in a soft powder blue, her marker was made of “white bronze,” a zinc alloy produced and molded into tombstones by the Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut⁷. Markers like hers were only manufactured between 1874 and 1914, before zinc was redirected to support the World War I effort⁸. Today, Matilda’s headstone stands as a striking landmark at Olive Branch. 

Eliza Needler’s grave is marked by a white bronze monument, too. Like Matilda, Eliza died in 1881, and their similar markers hint at a shared story. While both monuments were cast in the same distinctive style, subtle differences set them apart. Both stand out among the weathered stones found elsewhere in the cemetery.

Obelisks rise all over Olive Branch Cemetery. One that caught my eye belonged to John W. Milhollin, who died in 1849 at the age of forty-five. His monument wasn’t especially large, but it was striking in its simplicity and age. It’s nearly two centuries old! Not far away stood a much larger obelisk that practically towered over the surrounding stones. This one, marking the resting place of the Atkinson family, was the kind of monument you’d expect to see in a city cemetery rather than one hidden in such humble surroundings.

It was hard for me to not feel a sense of reverence as I walked among the graves at Olive Branch since many of the names etched into marble or stamped into zinc belonged to the very people who established our area’s earliest homes, schools, and churches. Surrounded by winding roads and cornfields, Olive Branch makes it feel like time has paused. Maybe it has, in a sense, and that’s part of what draws me to pioneer cemeteries like it. Olive Branch Cemetery holds stories forgotten by most. Out in the rural countryside, it seems to be waiting for someone to listen.

Sources Cited
1 Spurgeon, B. (1992, June 29). Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4. 
2 Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1. Book, Lewis Publishing Company.
3 (See footnote 2). 
4 Heal Cabin has long local history (1994, July 22). The Muncie Star. p. 34. 
5 Carlson, J. (2000, June 26). Maintaining old cemetery is one man’s mission. The Muncie Star Press. Pp. 7-8. 
6 (See footnote 2). 
7 Haugh, C. (2019, September 8). White Bronze Markers. Mount Olivet Cemetery [Frederick]. Web. Retrieved June 18, 2025. 
8 (See footnote 7).