I’ve been stopping by Mount Pleasant Cemetery in rural Yorktown for years, drawn in by its flowing well from which occasionally gushes some of the best water I’ve ever tasted. After a few visits, though, I realized something surprising: I knew almost nothing about the cemetery itself, not to mention the old church perched up on the hill above it!

If you spend enough time driving the backroads of western Delaware County, you’ll start to notice them- faded metal signs pointing the way to Mount Pleasant Community Church on Highbanks Road. I’ve followed plenty of those signs, but my favorite route is a ritual of its own: I head southwest on State Road 32 out of Yorktown, turn onto County Road 300-South, cross the old metal bridge that stretches over the White River, and wind along the riverbank until the church finally appears ahead atop the hill. 

There, I encounter a chapel with deep roots. The first Mount Pleasant Church was built in 1841 on land donated by James Van Matre, who asked that it serve as both a sanctuary and a schoolhouse. A Campbellite minister named James Chambers briefly led services there, but his congregation never officially organized¹. The following year, the Methodist Episcopalians took over, only to quickly fade away as well.

In 1844, the Methodist Protestant Church made Mount Pleasant its home. It held regular services there until about 1859 or 1860, when the congregation relocated to a nearby schoolhouse². A few years later, in 1871, a new frame church was built on land donated by P.A. Helvie and John Harman in a $1,563 investment³. A well drilled on the northeast corner of the Harman’s property in 1887 or 1889 originally provided natural gas to heat nearby homes. It still flows today, but not so hot. Instead, it provides clear, cold, water⁴.

For me, the real intrigue at Mount Pleasant isn’t the church on the hill. Instead, it’s the cemetery beside it. Its most striking feature is the old Neeley plot, a hundred-foot-square enclosure wrapped in an ornate, copper-coated iron fence topped with a matching roof. Inside, you’ll find three solemn markers standing in quiet unity that commemorate the resting place of Sarah, Hester A., and Basil Neeley. They’re part of a family whose presence still anchors this timeless corner of the countryside.

Aside from the Neeleys, other plots feature names Yorktown residents should recognize: Helvies, Hensleys, Isanogles, and Van Matres. Perhaps the most famous person buried at Mount Pleasant was Judge David Kilgore, who lived from 1804 to 1879. Kilgore served as judge of the Delaware Circuit Court, a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention, the Indiana General Assembly, and a representative in Congress⁵. Today, the old Yorktown and Muncie Pike takes his name. 

About a thousand souls rest under the hill at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The congregation officially became known as Mount Pleasant Community Church in 1935⁶, and it’s lasted ever since. Standing at the base of Mount Pleasant, it’s easy to see why this spot has endured for nearly two centuries: the church and cemetery balance one another perfectly, since one reaches skyward and the other is grounded in memory.

The burbling flow of the well at the foot of the hill ties both together, as a living reminder that history still moves beneath the surface. Every name etched in stone tells a small piece of Mount Pleasant Township’s story, from pioneer families like the Van Matres and Helvies to public figures like Judge Kilgore.

For anyone willing to wander the backroads, Mount Pleasant Church and Cemetery are living connections between the past and present. Today, they’re proof that even the quietest corners of our normal boundaries still have stories waiting to be heard.

Sources Cited
1 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.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Satterfield, E. (1985, July 14). Genealogical Society Digging Up Cemetery Facts. The Muncie Star Press. p. 39. 
4 (See footnote 3). 
5 (See footnote 3). 
6 (See footnote 3).