Lot Prices: Please contact Marcella Wolfe @ 740-649-9048 to purchase a cemetery lot.
Prices are $1,500 for a full lot. One full lot will hold six traditional burials. One-half lot is $750 and will hold three burials. Most couples purchase half lots while some singles are available along the south side.
Rules: We are still having some issues with artificial flowers--Please be advised artificial flowers are only allowed in the Winter months--they will be removed from the cemetery 1 April 2008. Call Marcella, above to receive a complete list of rules by mail.
MOWING AND IMPROVEMENTS: Many do not realize this cemetery has no 'tax income' of any type. Currently, mowing is accomplished by the Sheriff's mowing crew; however they only mow every 21 days due to workload. In order to maintain the appearance, it is mowed about once a month by the township, in between the times the Sheriff's crew mows the area.
HISTORY: One of the oldest landmarks in Ross County, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, is maintained by Green Township. Maintenance dollars are acquired through cemetery lot sales in and around the original historical burial lots.
This cemetery contains two significant community landmarks. On the south side of the old section stands a monument marking the location of the first church established by the pioneers who moved into the area.
In 1795, William McCoy, moved from Pennsylvania to Green Township and built the first mill on the Kinnikinnick creek. Soon after, he sold the mill to John Crouse and moved to build a farm...and a church nearby, about one mile west of Kingston-----Land later to become the Mount Pleasant Cemetery of today.
In August, 1798 founding members of the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church formed a society to erect a 30 foot square log building to join together and worship God. This log building was built on Mr. McCoy's farm and it was the first church in the township. It is said all this was done before the corn was harvested that year which would have seemed to be the priority for pioneers over building a church. You can still see the location of the walls embedded in the grass surrounding the monument.
The founding members are listed as follows--William McCoy and wife; James Wilson, his son John, and three unmarried daughters; William Craig and wife; William Blair and wife; Samuel Denny and wife; David Denny and wife Margaret. Mr. McCoy and Mr. Wilson served as ruling elders, and Rev. William Spear was designated the first Pastor. The Rev. James Robinson was designated pastor in 1808 and while he was Pastor, the church added on up to 135 new members. All this growth occurred before 1820.
The original log church building started in the Cemetery was never completed (no roof or flooring) and another building was finished on the site in 1814. It doesn't appear the lack of a church roof stopped these pioneers from worshiping God, because historical accounts describe that many times they met in the fields, woods or at each other's houses for worship. The Presbyterian Church in Kingston was erected in 1860 as a replacement for this log church building and serves the community today at 1 Church Street, Kingston, Ohio.
On the east side of the old cemetery is a monument marking Zane's Trace. On May 17, 1796 Congress authorized Colonel Ebenezer Zane three tracts of 640 acres, one of which was located in Green Township on the east bank of the Scioto River. In return, Mr. Zane was to lay out a road from Wheeling, Virginia through Ohio (and Green Township--Mount Pleasant Cemetery) to the now named Maysville, Kentucky. Zane's Trace first opened in 1797 and along the 'trace,' many pioneers came to settle Ohio.
Zane's Tract brought economic prosperity to Ohio and specifically to Green Township. Many inns, taverns and towns sprang up along the tract including businesses in Kingston. Although many roads were built off Zane's Trace, since the trace ran through Green Township and Kingston, growth to this area occurred before many other areas in Ross County. Thus death and burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery also increased. Many of these pioneer names and monuments can still be found in the Cemetery.
The original trace was accessible only by foot or by horseback, but on Feburary 18, 1804, after Ohio became a state in 1803, Ohio Legislation authorized $15 per mile to widen the trace. It was as a result of Zane's Trace that Chillicothe became Ohio's first capital as this area grew to be the center of travel and commerce.