Colony Burying Ground, Old

Old Colony Burying Ground occupies nearly three acres on a hillside at the southern entrance to Granville, Ohio. Laid out in 1805 and expanded northward about 1815, it holds roughly 940 gravestones and monuments, the earliest surviving stone dating to 1808. A central roadway divides the grounds, and a sandstone retaining wall of 1887 and iron gates of 1912 line South Main Street. The cemetery is notable for its carved sandstone and marble markers, including box tombs, urns and lancet-arched stones by Granville carvers Rollin Hughes and Manley Whipple, and large monuments to Lucius Mower and Charles Blanchard. In 1886 local pharmacist Charles Webster Bryant numbered and recorded the visible stones, creating a record that has helped guide later conservation. Burials declined after Maple Grove Cemetery opened in 1863, which left the grounds remarkably intact. Recent seating areas, stone steps and a small information building serve visitors.