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While Spring Grove is likely the most well-known cemetery in the city, it’s not the oldest. That title goes to a 2.2-acre spot in the city’s Linwood neighborhood.

The Memorial Pioneer Cemetery on Wilmer Avenue north of Davis Lane marks the only restored remnant of the pioneer settlement of Columbia. And it’s the oldest cemetery in Hamilton County, according to the City of Cincinnati Park Board.

The city says burials probably began as early as 1790, the approximate founding date of the Columbia Baptist Church on the site.

It is the final resting place of Revolutionary War veterans, Civil War veterans and pioneers. The oldest headstone found in the cemetery belongs to 5-month-old Phebe Stites, daughter of Capt. Hezekiah Stites, who died on March 14, 1797. It’s also the site of a marker for one of the recipients of the original Purple Heart, according to a historical account in a 2018 Enquirer article.

Sgt. William Brown was 16 when he enlisted to fight the British in 1777. He was wounded in the Siege of Yorktown.

Brown was chosen to lead an advance group, called Forlorn Hope because of their chance of survival, to storm a temporary fortification armed with only bayonets and fending off musket fire and cannons.

The fortifications were taken in a few minutes, and Washington bombarded Cornwallis until he surrendered on Oct. 17, 1781, ending the decisive battle of the revolution.

Brown received a Badge of Military Merit that Washington created, “the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk, edged with narrow lace or binding,” to be awarded for “any singularly meritorious action.” The heart-shaped purple cloth became known as the Purple Heart.

Brown was actually buried in the Fulton Cemetery in East End. But a marker honoring him with other Cincinnati Revolutionary War soldiers was installed at the Memorial Pioneer Cemetery in 2004.

The Cincinnati Baptist Union turned the property over to the city in 1937 to establish it as the Memorial Pioneer Cemetery. The area was neglected over the years until Frederick L. Payne, a supervising horticulturalist for the park board, began a four-year restoration project in 1967. The city still maintains the property.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What’s the oldest cemetery in Cincinnati? | Just Askin’