Granville Cemetery

The cemetery nearly vanished. As families with ties to it left, it fell into disrepair, and in the mid-1970s the surrounding land went to a farmer whose center-pivot irrigation system cut across one corner. Descendants and neighbors objected, and in 2000 a six-year court fight began that ended in judgment for a revived Granville Cemetery Association, led by Nancy Hartman of Bellwood. A fence now separates the graves from the fields, and white crosses mark places where burials are believed to lie. About 100 people came in May 2011 for the 130th anniversary and the marker's dedication.

What the plaque says

Granville Cemetery The Granville Cemetery Association was organized in February 1881. Incorporators included Civil War veteran Adin H. Potter, formerly of Granville, New York, who deeded the land. He was one of the few Union soldiers to escape from Andersonville (Georgia) Prison during the war. The earliest marked grave dates from 1880. Many interments were infants and children, including Edith, daughter of Adin and Dianna Potter, who died February 18, 1881. Francis H. Baker is the only known Civil War veteran buried here. Granville Pioneer Cemetery Association Nebraska State Historical Society, 2010

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Genoa U.S. Indian School Museum — 18 mi
  The surviving trades building of a federal boarding school that ran from 1884 to 1934 on the Pawnee Nation's last Nebraska land, where at least 86 children died and the cemetery is still lost.

More markers nearby

• The Zimmerers - Irrigation Innovators — 7.8 mi
• Alfred Maximilian Gruenther: 1899-1983 — 9.7 mi
• Barnes Reserve Cemetery — 11 mi
• West Hill Community — 12 mi