Brewster Cemetery

A transcription made on an October 2002 visit lists thirteen burials, and at least six are children: Eddie Allen at three, Eliza Pennington at thirteen, an infant Reaves, Nathaniel P. Swihart at ten, and the Willis brothers, Floyd at five in November 1884 and Bennie at two the next April. Two stones are dated before the founding year, Nathaniel's of 1859 and James B. Watson's of 1869, and the last burial was in 1888. After years of neglect, citizens took over the ground in the fall of 1999 and set new headstones for its three Civil War veterans.

What the plaque says

Brewster Cemetery Founded in 1870 by Israel Swihart, the cemetery was named for his wife, Mary Brewster Swihart. Those buried here include three Civil War veterans, and several children who succumbed to the harsh conditions of life on the Great Plains. The cemetery is also the eternal resting place for persons unknown, whose grave markers have been ravaged by time and the elements. It serves as a memorial to the sturdy pioneers who lived and died while making a home on the Nebraska prairie. Washington County Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Atkinson State Historical Park — 10 mi
  The first U.S. Army post west of the Missouri, a garrison town of more than a thousand people on Council Bluff from 1820 to 1827, rebuilt on its own foundations.
• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 17 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 20 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 22 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.

More markers nearby

• Congregational Church of Blair — 4.1 mi
• Lewis and Clark Campsites: August 3 and 4, 1804 — 4.2 mi
• Cuming City Cemetery and Nature Preserve — 5.7 mi
• DeSoto Townsite — 6.4 mi