FOREST HILL CEMETERY
a/k/a Forest Hill Union Cemetery
8660 State Route 66
Piqua, Ohio 45356
937.773.2614
Established: 1868
Acres: 120
Official Website
Bella Morte Rating: 3 Tombstones
Situated an hour and a half west of Columbus, Ohio, lies Piqua, a typical small Midwestern town which lays claim to Forest Hill Cemetery --"the largest cemetery in the tri-county area."
The origins of the cemetery are outlined on the Ohio Historical Marker located just outside the grounds which reads: "On March 20, 1868, The Ohio General Assembly passed a revision to the Ohio Revised Code allowing for a municipality and a township to join together in purchasing land for a shared cemetery. On April 24, 1868, the Washington Township Trustees passed a resolution creating Forest Hill Union Cemetery. This cemetery was to be shared with the city of Piqua and became the first mutual cemetery between a municipality and a township in Ohio.”
The passing of the new resolution provided for the removal of 6 local graveyards to the new Forest Hill Union Cemetery. The grounds contain an upper and lower area bisected by a canal. A stretch of the city's 11 mile long Linear Park Walkway runs along the canal and through the cemetery. On the day we visited, people walked and bicycled along the path and a handful of fishermen cast their lines from the two bridges that span the canal.
Forest Hill boasts three "famous" interments: those of Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General James Harvey Hart, California Congressman Joseph Walker McCorkle, and Ohio Congressman John Franklin McKinney. Those familiar with this site know, however, that our interests seldom lie with the final resting places of military and political figures; thus, it was not a desire to seek out these graves which brought us to Forest Hill. Instead, we were drawn by the story of Laura Frances Purdy whose tragically short life made a deep impression on us.
Laura was a gifted designer who created Gothic/Victorian style clothing for her own design house known as The Pale Court. Since her untimely passing, The Pale Court website has become a tribute to her life. In addition to her work as a clothing designer, Laura was also a gifted photographer and sketch artist.
Laura's simple yet elegant monument was paid for by her life partner as well as donations from family, friends and even strangers who read her story and were moved to contribute to her memorial. The front of the black granite stone features a beautiful image of Laura set among a wreath of roses. The inscription on the back of the stone reads:
All love is sweet,
given or returned.
Common as light is love,
and its familiar voice wearies not ever.
They who inspire it most
are fortunate,
as I am now:
but those who feel it most
are happier still.
~ Shelley
Laura's monument is located in the northeast section of the cemetery in the area along the side of Broadway Drive. Oddly, despite phone calls to the cemetery office, no one was able to provide us with a section and lot number. If you go to visit, look for Laura's memorial in the northeast section of the graveyard just below the canal.
Aside from Laura's grave, which is what drew us to Forest Hill, the remainder of the cemetery is pleasant, but certainly not overly remarkable. Visitors to the area who pay a visit will find a few monuments notable for a cemetery in a town the size of Piqua. The memorial to German immigrants Henry and Mary Schneider, featuring relief images of the Schneider's regarded by a larger-than-life-sized angel, is arguably the most impressive on the grounds. For sheer size, however, the memorial to twenty year old Miami University student Clifton R. Alexander is the hands-down winner in Forest Hill. Featuring a soaring bell tower surmounted by a gold cross, the memorial bespeaks the grief of parents over the loss of a child. According to his obituary, Clifton "died unexpectedly in his sleep from natural causes Monday morning at the Sigma Nu Fraternity House at Miami University in Oxford, a Fraternity of which he currently served as Vice-President." While at the gravesite, we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the four bells suspended one above the other in the tower do sound chimes. Unfortunately, they are of the mechanical variety. Though the tolling of the bells was pleasant enough, the tunes that followed the sounding of the hour were considerably less melodious and enjoyable, at least to our ears.
With your back to the bell tower, be certain to look across the roadway. You will see a large white stone with a male figure raising his hands toward the sky. Beneath the figure is a quote from Robert Browning's poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra:
The best is yet to be
the last of life for which
the first was made
What makes the monument most remarkable are the eyes of the male figure. Age has robbed them of definition and the sun has whitened them more than the surrounding stone. The overall effect is creepy and unsettling in that the figure almost appears to have no eyes.
For a small town cemetery, Forest Hill is quiet pleasant. If you are in the area, do stop by and wander the grounds at your leisure. And please make sure to pay your respects to Laura Purdy while you are there.
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a/k/a Forest Hill Union Cemetery
8660 State Route 66
Piqua, Ohio 45356
937.773.2614
Established: 1868
Acres: 120
Official Website
Bella Morte Rating: 3 Tombstones
Situated an hour and a half west of Columbus, Ohio, lies Piqua, a typical small Midwestern town which lays claim to Forest Hill Cemetery --"the largest cemetery in the tri-county area."
The origins of the cemetery are outlined on the Ohio Historical Marker located just outside the grounds which reads: "On March 20, 1868, The Ohio General Assembly passed a revision to the Ohio Revised Code allowing for a municipality and a township to join together in purchasing land for a shared cemetery. On April 24, 1868, the Washington Township Trustees passed a resolution creating Forest Hill Union Cemetery. This cemetery was to be shared with the city of Piqua and became the first mutual cemetery between a municipality and a township in Ohio.”
The passing of the new resolution provided for the removal of 6 local graveyards to the new Forest Hill Union Cemetery. The grounds contain an upper and lower area bisected by a canal. A stretch of the city's 11 mile long Linear Park Walkway runs along the canal and through the cemetery. On the day we visited, people walked and bicycled along the path and a handful of fishermen cast their lines from the two bridges that span the canal.
Forest Hill boasts three "famous" interments: those of Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General James Harvey Hart, California Congressman Joseph Walker McCorkle, and Ohio Congressman John Franklin McKinney. Those familiar with this site know, however, that our interests seldom lie with the final resting places of military and political figures; thus, it was not a desire to seek out these graves which brought us to Forest Hill. Instead, we were drawn by the story of Laura Frances Purdy whose tragically short life made a deep impression on us.
Laura was a gifted designer who created Gothic/Victorian style clothing for her own design house known as The Pale Court. Since her untimely passing, The Pale Court website has become a tribute to her life. In addition to her work as a clothing designer, Laura was also a gifted photographer and sketch artist.
Laura's simple yet elegant monument was paid for by her life partner as well as donations from family, friends and even strangers who read her story and were moved to contribute to her memorial. The front of the black granite stone features a beautiful image of Laura set among a wreath of roses. The inscription on the back of the stone reads:
All love is sweet,
given or returned.
Common as light is love,
and its familiar voice wearies not ever.
They who inspire it most
are fortunate,
as I am now:
but those who feel it most
are happier still.
~ Shelley
Laura's monument is located in the northeast section of the cemetery in the area along the side of Broadway Drive. Oddly, despite phone calls to the cemetery office, no one was able to provide us with a section and lot number. If you go to visit, look for Laura's memorial in the northeast section of the graveyard just below the canal.
Aside from Laura's grave, which is what drew us to Forest Hill, the remainder of the cemetery is pleasant, but certainly not overly remarkable. Visitors to the area who pay a visit will find a few monuments notable for a cemetery in a town the size of Piqua. The memorial to German immigrants Henry and Mary Schneider, featuring relief images of the Schneider's regarded by a larger-than-life-sized angel, is arguably the most impressive on the grounds. For sheer size, however, the memorial to twenty year old Miami University student Clifton R. Alexander is the hands-down winner in Forest Hill. Featuring a soaring bell tower surmounted by a gold cross, the memorial bespeaks the grief of parents over the loss of a child. According to his obituary, Clifton "died unexpectedly in his sleep from natural causes Monday morning at the Sigma Nu Fraternity House at Miami University in Oxford, a Fraternity of which he currently served as Vice-President." While at the gravesite, we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the four bells suspended one above the other in the tower do sound chimes. Unfortunately, they are of the mechanical variety. Though the tolling of the bells was pleasant enough, the tunes that followed the sounding of the hour were considerably less melodious and enjoyable, at least to our ears.
With your back to the bell tower, be certain to look across the roadway. You will see a large white stone with a male figure raising his hands toward the sky. Beneath the figure is a quote from Robert Browning's poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra:
The best is yet to be
the last of life for which
the first was made
What makes the monument most remarkable are the eyes of the male figure. Age has robbed them of definition and the sun has whitened them more than the surrounding stone. The overall effect is creepy and unsettling in that the figure almost appears to have no eyes.
For a small town cemetery, Forest Hill is quiet pleasant. If you are in the area, do stop by and wander the grounds at your leisure. And please make sure to pay your respects to Laura Purdy while you are there.
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