We came across this place quite by accident and it's a sad little spot. People living, and dying, in the once existing Poor House were buried here. The wooden crosses that were allegedly placed at each grave are long gone. No known cemetery plat exists and specific gravesites are not noted. Burials took place from 1907 to 1934 (but the first date on the plaque is 1908).
Sometime in the 1980s a ten ton boulder was brought in and a plaque was installed that lists 55 names of people known to be buried here. The names were retrieved from the Poor House Record Book in the State Archives in Lansing, Michigan, and the plaque lists the names by year of death.
One of the 55 was a still born baby 😞
The DNR was gifted the property by the Ionia County Board and now maintains the site. Information on the lives of these souls that ended up in a Poor House, however, is lost to time.
Been here several times. It was just the way they did things in Ionia back then at the "County Farm" I was around to remember the BIG old building - that was the home. It used to have a long chute down the side, presumably in case of a fire. for escape?
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to see that. Thanks for your comment!
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