aka  Forest Chapel

Richland Township

Location: northeast corner of CRs 650N and 125E

The Wesley Chapel Cemetery view on the right shows the fence with gate and sign to mark and help protect the sacred ground of early township people of faith.  The close-up at left shows some of the stones, most of which are from the Victorian Age--mid 19th century--and are in excellent condition.

    This cemetery belongs to what was the first church in Richland Township, a Methodist house of worship.  William Noble organized the small congregation which at first held meetings in private homes.  Later the Holston Schoolhouse on CR 650N was used, and finally in 1860 a frame house of worship was constructed across the road from the school.  The new building was dedicated and christened "Wesley Chapel" after John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement.  Wesley Chapel held services every two weeks for over thirty years and on the nearby farm of J.R. Holson/Holston, even had annual "camp meetings," which followers of John Wesley's movement would attend from all parts of the country. The land for the chapel, its cemetery, and the schoolhouse was donated by J.R. Holson whose stone is pictured below right.  The 1876 township plat map shows the school, the chapel, and its cemetery all at the same intersection.  Both buildings are long since gone, but the cemetery remains a steadfast witness to the faith of early Richland Township settlers.

The four stones above also show popular Victorian symbols and styling.  Three of the four have clasped hands which symbolized a husband and wife meeting in heaven.  The hand pointed upward with the message represented religious zeal in this life.  The drape stood for the mourning by friends and family.  While each stone is essentially a rectangle or pillar, the severe straight lines are softened with curves--an essential part of Victorian style: the arches, drape, medallion, flowing script, and rounded tops.

Pillars and podiums were also popular with the Victorians.  An obelisk, like the one on the left for "Sarah wife of Wm. Meredith, died Apr. 19, 1878, aged 65 yrs. 1 m. 19ds," symbolized the connection between heaven and earth.  A pillar, like the one on the right complete with ivy and ribbing, symbolized the noble life of the departed--in this case Charles Hollowell.  In the middle, the draped and tasseled podium always represented the religious faith of those interred under it; the book on top was the Bible, of course.  Usually the name and dates of the deceased were inscribed in the medallion, but this one seems to have been left blank.

By contrast, the rectangular slabs of the 1850s, like the one on the left for J.R. and Nancy's daughter Sarah, were also very traditional.  Most of the time some of the lettering would be rounded.  The dove at the top symbolized innocence.  Styles began to change in the 1880s when curving lines went out of fashion and straighter forms took their place as shown by the blockish markers in the middle and on the right.  Furthermore, styles change slowly, so while Elizabeth Watkins's marker is more severe, it does have a Victorian urn on top which symbolized mortality.  Additionally, throughout the 19th century it was customary to have much smaller gravestones for children as can be seen on either side of Andrew McNeer's severe, dark gray stone on the right.