Bridgetown Cemetery Tour #1 Preview

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Begin tour- Original Entrance of Cemetery

The original entrance to the Cemetery. Purchased in the summer of 1864 by a group of local Protestant landowners, the cemetery was named “The First German Protestant Cemetery of Green Township”. The land originally was part of an estate owned by Cincinnati Judge George Torrence, who purchased the land from the Finley, Harrison, and Burnett Land Company, who had acquired most of the land in Green Township from John Cleves Symmes. Symmes purchased much of the land of Green Township fromt the Federal Government in what later became known as "Symmes Purchase".

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Original Iron Fence

The cemetery board installed this fence in the late 1930’s as traffic was beginning to increase on the newly renamed Bridgetown Road. It was an upgrade from an old wooden fence meant to keep livestock from nearby Cleves-Louisville Pike from wandering into the cemetery grounds.

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Musekamp Family Lot

Musekamp Family Lot. George Musekamp was one of the original trustees of the cemetery. He was a well known Doctor in the area. He was also involved in local politics, having served as an elected official in both Hamilton County and Green Township. He lived in the small township village of Cheviot, and also helped establish the nearby First German Protestant Church in 1871.

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Pilgrim United Church of Christ(aka First German Protestant Church of Green Township)

The First German Protestant Church of Green Township was established in 1871 on 1/2 acre of land donated by the cemetery. Many of the original cemetery trustees were also founding members of the church. The original church was constructed with volunteer labor, and the original foundation was made from rocks from nearby creeks. The church was torn down and rebuilt in 1961 and renamed Pilgrim United Church of Christ.

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Ahring Family Plot

This family plot holds the remains of George Ahring, one of the original trustees of the cemetery. This section of the cemetery is the original section laid out as a typical rural cemetery. There are no discernible rows, and the family plots usually have a main stone with the family name.

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Musecamp/Muesekamp lots

This stop is the last resting place of more members of the Musecamp family. The largest headstone of Johanna is very unique to the cemetery and stands out as different from many of the other headstones from the 1800’s. This features a large willow tree, which is a symbol meant to represent everlasting life. Notice the date of death is several years before the cemetery was established? Her husband, who is right next to her, passed in the 1870’s. It was more common for spouses to be moved to another cemetery if the family desired the two to be together, especially if the other cemetery was further away.

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First opened section.

This section of the cemetery is the first that was opened, and contains some of the oldest burials. This section, labeled “Section 1”, contains all family lots. Many inscriptions are written in German, highlighting the majority of the early burials in the cemetery.

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New single lot section

This section was laid out in the early 1900’s to handle a continued influx of newer residents in the early 20th century as roads improved and newer transportation options like streetcars and early automobiles began to be available to residents of the area. This section was laid out next to two houses on Nicholas Ave, which was a small dead-end street which also was home to the nuns house across the street at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Roman Catholic Church. Nicholas Ave was later joined together with Weirman Ave and Nicholas Ave took the name Weirman Ave. Weirman Ave is named after the Weirman Family, from which several members of their family acted as Marshals for the village of Cheviot. The two houses adjoining this section were used by several sextons of the cemetery, as well as several ministers of the First German Protestant Church. These houses were torn down in the 1960’s for the parking lot and fellowship hall for Pilgrim United Church of Christ.

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Menz Family Lot

The Menz Family served on the cemetery board for many years tfrom the early 1900's until 1985. Many family members helped shape the physical layout of the cemetery through negotiations with the Schaeperklaus family to purchase the farm just north of the original property in 1939. This family lot includes the grave of Jacob Menz, a Civil War Veteran and former cemetery board member.

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John Grinstead Headstone

John Grinstead was a former Chief of Police for the nearby city of Cheviot. His headstone prominently features the Chief of Police badge for the city of Cheviot. Bridgetown Cemetery was the cemetery of choice for many prominent public officials in the local area. Grinstead served Cheviot as it's village marshal. In 1932, he was named as the first Chief of Police when the village council created a police district.

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Headstone shaped like a tree without limbs.

This interesting monument is the headstone of Helena and Phillip Knierim. These "tree stones" are meant to symbolize lives cut short, in this case, Helena died around the age of 45. These stones were often sold out of a Sears/Roebuck Catalog.

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Menz/Morretta Family Plot

This family plot contains the graves of more members of the Menz family, which helped shape the cemetery from its time as a rural cemetery to the opening of the newer sections after WWII. Harold and Edward Menz both were longtime trustees, Carmen Menz-Moretta was a long serving secretary-treasurer of the board, and Herman "Bud" Morretta was the grounds superintendant for over 30 years, overseeing the opening of the new sections, and moderninzing and updating equipment, landscaping, and the rest of the grounds until his death in 1985.

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Ruebel Family Plot

The Ruebel Family has a large place in local history. They owned large plots of land in Green Township, from which quarries were operated for stones for the foundations of many buildings of the time period. They also operated what many today remember as the Wagon Wheel Saloon. When the family operated it, the business was known as the Bridgetown Hotel. Other members of the family later entered the concrete/asphault business, working on among other roads in the county, Bridgetown Road, which passes directly in front of the original cemetery.