Tazewell County, IL Genealogy Trails
Al and Carole Hill Martin ©2006 Genealogy Trails

Old Settlement Cemetery
Spring Lake State Park near Manito, IL
Abandoned Cemetery

Driving Directions
From the camp ground #1 at the Spring Lake State Park, hike past the Ranger Station, down the old stagecoach trail, about 1/2 mile.
The trail has 2 paths to the left that only go to a farmer's field. Continue on, as you walk up a small hill, the trail has a fork.
Take the left fork. The cemetery is about 50 yards from the main trail.


The cemetery has a fence around it and it is in very bad shape.
It is overgrown with trees and weeds. None of the stones are still standing on their own. Most stones are buried and need to be dug up.
-Al and Carole Hill Martin, Pekin, IL, April 2006

 

Old Settlement is an abandoned cemetery in the Spring Lake State Park near Manito, IL.
Allen and I, with permission from the park ranger, have adopted this cemetery and are attempting to clean it up.
When we started, not a single stone was upright and it was totally overgrown in poison oak and knee deep in leaves, and had many fallen trees and large limbs in it.
I have been transplanting flowers and ground cover in the hopes that they will spread and help keep out the poison oak and poison ivy.
We have been probing for stones but haven't been finding any the past few months. So many of the stones have been broken up by vandals.
Allen has put some back together when he could find enough of the stone.- Al and Carole Hill Martin, Pekin, IL, August 2006

Al and Carole Martin have done a GREAT job caring for this cemetery.
It is heart warming to see the transformation done to this forgotten cemetery.
Thanks to both of  you for your dedication to saving history and sharing it with us!

 

 

Condition they found the cemetery in.

 

Al hard at work!


Cleaning away!


Repairing stones!

 

Piecing together stones. Time consuming and hard work!

Hard work pays off when
John Douglas Trent headstone stays together!
 

 

Landscaping

 

 


How they found it!


How they left it!

 

Mary E.
Dau of W.W. & ?. E. STEWART
Born Oct. 1, 1856
Died Oct. 10, 1857

 


Stone Pieces
Do you know anything about these people?


Willis GOODYEAR
Died
 

Robert JONES
Husband of Eveline
 


Late resident Cayuga Co. N.Y.
A loving mother gone to rest
A Christian waiting to be blest.


What a fabulous job!!!


 

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Tazewell County, IL Genealogy Trails
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