I suspect many folks who pass it see Bryan Cemetery as just another kink in the road between Centerville and the open countryside. For locals, though, it’s where generations of loved ones rest. For history buffs like me, it’s also the final home of the iron fence that once surrounded Wayne County’s old Centerville courthouse1. I’d stopped by about a decade ago to snap photos of that fencing, but I never wandered among the stones themselves. That changed a couple of weeks ago.
Bryan Cemetery got its start early, when Henry Bryan donated land from his farm for a burial ground2. The earliest grave belongs to Margaret Bryan, who died in 1815. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how she was related to Henry. Fifteen-year-old James Longwill was buried the following year, but nearly a decade appears to have passed before another interment occurred: a Bryan mother-in-law, Martha Crawford, was buried at the cemetery in 1824.
Just over five hundred people are interred in marked graves at Bryan Cemetery. Some, near the front of the place, were buried as recently as this year! The back of the cemetery is where I spent most of my time, though. Aside from a group of markers representing early Bryans, I also noticed Bertrams, Blacks, Burrises, Endsleys, Isenhowers, Lammotts, McConnahas, Nugens, Smiths, and Watts.
None of those names rang a bell to me, but some were buried under unique and ornate headstones. The first of the three that stuck out was the monument for John and Mary Nugen, which towers above its surroundings and features an urn from which actual plants spout up. John died in 1859, while Mary followed in 1877. Carved for $1,700, the marker was set atop John Nugen’s casket in 18683.
Another towering monument that caught my attention was the one marking the burial site of Joshua and Hester Lammott, who died in 1887 and 1896. Aside from the sheer size of the memorial, its band of red granite was especially striking. It should be, since Joshua Lammott -one of the earliest settlers in what became Wayne County- was also one of the area’s wealthiest after clearing acres of timber and buying fertile land for farming4.
I’ve only been venturing to pioneer cemeteries for about a year, but many I’ve seen feature markers with a tree motif, like the one that memorializes Nola Medearis and her infant child. Medearis’ marker is by far the tallest of its type I’ve seen, and reflects a popular gravestone style during a time when monuments were shifting from traditionally styled obelisks and mausoleums5. Tree stump grave markers often represent a life cut short, but many also signify membership in the Woodmen of the World fraternal organization.
Beyond the three towering monuments that first drew me in, a few quieter, more understated stones also caught my eye. The first was William Crawford’s. A native of Ireland born in 1745, Crawford moved to America at a young age. As the story goes, he forfeited fortune to serve in the Revolutionary War under Marquis de Lafayette and was wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill6. Crawford retired to Wayne County after the war and died in 1826 at eighty or eighty-one.
The last stone to catch my eye at Bryan Cemetery was half-lost in the weeds along the western edge of the grounds. A weathered GAR stake marked it as the resting place of a Civil War veteran, but the inscription was too far gone for me to read. My mom knelt down to clear away the tangle of leaves after I snapped this photo, but she had no better luck. Nearby, the stumps of several broken markers jutted from the ground. Unfortunately, they couldn’t offer any clues about the soldier who lies beneath the lonely stone we found.
Getting to Bryan Cemetery is much more straightforward than trying to seek out somewhere obscure like Delaware County’s Olive Branch. Start in Centerville on US-40, then turn south onto Willow Grove Road. Follow it for about two and a half miles as it winds through open fields. Eventually, the road delivers you to a tall iron arch that marks the entrance. The fence removed from the old Centerville Courthouse flanks it to the north and south. It holds the line between the modern world and two hundred years of memory.
Sources Cited
1 Martin, S. (2020, January 12). Out of Our Past: Centerville lost county seat status’s remains center of much local history. The Richmond Palladium-Item. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
2 Beach, E. (1961, July 14). Bryan Church To Be Sold By Auctioneers Next Friday. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 4.
3 The City (1868, October 10). The Richmond Telegram. p. 8.
4 Golden Wedding of Lammotts Honored at Centerville Sunday(1921, February 25). The Richmond Palladium. p. 14.
5 Laskow, S. (2018,July 17). Why some gravestones Are Shaped Like Tree Stumps. Atlas Obscura. Web. Retriebed March 22, 2025.
6 6 William Crawford (n.d.). Bryan Cemetery. Find A Grave. Web. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
