The Columbia St. Cemetery Project: A Forgotten Cemetery in Downtown Springfield, Ohio

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Cemeteries and Burial Practices" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Columbia St. Cemetery Project (CSC) is a joint initiative in Springfield, Ohio bringing together a university, a charitable foundation, the city, and the community to document the city’s oldest cemetery. Located in the heart of downtown Springfield, the small site (7227 m2) is the burial ground for the earliest residents (beginning in 1812) and includes four Revolutionary War soldiers. Wittenberg University began excavations in 2018 to help document the cemetery, to excavate test units to locate missing headstones, and to find evidence of earlier pathways to help provide physical evidence regarding the history of site. Working closely with the community, fostering partnerships with various constituents, and using the site as a space for teaching and learning about archaeology, this paper will highlight the success and challenges of working in public archaeology as a city seeks to revitalize itself.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Cemeteries and Burial Practices

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 132