Little Gems of Springfield Township: The Cemeteries

Springfield Township is home to at least seven cemeteries, and most people probably couldn't name more than one or two. I spent some time this week visiting them all.

Three are what most of us would recognize: Old Maysville Cemetery, with its iron fence and weathered stones dating back well over a century. Harlan Memorial Cemetery, with its manicured grounds and American flags. And Salem Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, sitting quietly at the corner of Spencerville and Springfield Center Roads, families long gone from the area but memorials to them still standing proud.

Four are Amish: Roth Road, Harlan Amish, Sencerville Amish, and East Scipio Amish. Simple white markers, wooden fences, and open fields. No monuments. No ornamentation. Just rows of names and the farmland that surrounds them. Simple markers to mark lives more rich than any memorial can share.

Different traditions. Different communities. Same township. These are the resting places of the people who built what we live in today, and every one of them deserves to be known and respected.