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Rockafield Cemetery: A Spooky History

Spooky Campus | Photo by Arden Reimer | The Wright State Guardian


From grave-robbing to unidentified remains, the cemetery belonging to Wright State University’s previous landowners holds an intriguing history.

Background

The Rockafield cemetery is composed of two sections: the modern addition, which holds the interred remains of individuals who have donated bodies to the WSU anatomical program, and the 45 graves of the previous landowners, the Rockafield family, relatives and hired hands who worked for the family.

While WSU purchased the cemetery in 1964, it has most likely been in existence since 1825 or 1830, according to the WSU Special Collections and Archives. 

Stories

The most well-known piece of narrative history from this cemetery is the grave-robbing of one of the earliest occupants of the Rockafield cemetery: Martin Rockafield. To this day, viewers can see an indentation in the Earth where Martin Rockafield was supposedly taken from the place of rest.

It was not until 1932 – almost 100 years after the initial burial – when someone noticed Rockafield’s body taken from the grave and haphazardly placed on a sack nearby.

The suspected grave robber has never been identified.

Martin Rockafield is one of eight positively identified graves, but most of the occupants were not as lucky. Simply known as “May’s child,” this infant’s name was lost to history as one of youngest occupants of Rockafield Cemetery.

Her inscription reads “ _______ daughter of [Issac] H, and Mary M. Mays died September 12, 1811 aged __ years 5 months and 9 days. Sleep on sweet child and take thy rest, God called thee home He thought it best.”

No further information is found on this child, as no actual record of her exists. 

But, most of the damage to this cemetery comes from intentional alterations. 

According to WSU SC&A, residents on the land threw some stones in a creek bed during the 1940s, while the Wright State Riding Club used other flat stones from the cemetery area to line a driveway. This source also shows that residents who lived on the land at the turn of the century used some stones as a sidewalk. 

Mapping a lost treasure

Student Brad Kerry recognized the archaeological and historical value of such a piece of WSU history and sought to professionally map out the section of the cemetery as part of a geographic information science principles class project.

According to Kerry, there had only been crude mappings of this cemetery before he and a group of students mapped the cemetery through ArcGIS Collector using a program that Kerry wrote.

ArcGIS Collector is an application that creates a visual map based on GPS points. The application is available for download on any application store.

Approximately a half dozen students, including Ben Osborne and M.J. Harris, placed virtual markers using this software. Markers included categorizations, such as modern infrastructure, fence posts, confirmed gravesites and potential graves.

Some of the graves were in fair condition, but most were extremely damaged, so students were unable to positively identify some pieces as graves. Students also found a number of suspected graves outside the fence line where the cemetery was thought to have ended.

Kerry hopes to use ground-penetrating radar in the future to further this research.

Cemetery locations

Students can visit the cemetery on University Boulevard. The site is open 24 hours daily.


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