The Woodville Township Cemetery is also known as Union Cemetery or Gold Hill Cemetery. It is located off Lime Road just north of the Village of Woodville (in the middle of the Martin Marietta plant). The cemetery is surrounded by quarries and can be reached by a causeway like roadway between the quarries.

The cemetery was started in 1846 when the infant son of Stephen Brown of Woodville died. In 1847, two additional acres were purchased and the lots were laid out. An additional twelve acres were added in 1882.

The Wood and Price families had a burial plot nearby. In 1875, they turned the family burial ground over to the Woodville Cemetery Association. In 1896, George Hagedorn plotted out a piece of ground on the north side of the old Woodville Cemetery and named it Gold Hill. In 1939, this section was turned over to the Cemetery Association. Over the years additional ground has been purchased, thus giving it one of its names – Union Cemetery.

An underground vault was built in 1885 by Jacob Bishop (Dorothy Keil’s grandfather). This is the mounded area on the right-hand side of the cemetery now used as a storage shed. Bodies were placed in the vault during the winter months and removed for burial in the spring when the soil was free of frost.

In the years prior to 1920, George W. Thomas had the Memorial mausoleum built that contained 24 crypts. Due to the deterioration of the building, the bodies were removed in 1997. The caskets were placed in vaults and buried in the Gold Hill section. A single monument has been placed marking this site.

In the year 2000, salvaged materials from the mausoleum (stone pillars and plaques) were used in the construction of a masonry archway at the Lime Road entrance to the cemetery. The project was financed by Martin Marietta.

Many years ago the Woodville Township Trustees discontinued the practice of selling lots in this cemetery. Many of the burial records were lost in a fire years ago, so it is not known how many open graves are available. The Trustees will allow a burial to occur if the owner presents a deed to the plot, or if there is definite proof of ownership, for example, a headstone is already on the grave with the person’s name engraved, or the spouse is buried in the plot.

For more information, please contact Lori Kepus, Fiscal Officer, Woodville Township at 419-849-2492. Burial records are also available at the Woodville Public Library and the Woodville Historical Museum on East Main Street.

Catholic Cemetery

This cemetery is adjacent to the south side of Woodville Township or Union Cemetery and was laid out by Michael McBride. The cemetery deed was first held by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Genoa. In March, 1982, the Woodville Township Trustees accepted ownership and responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery.

Bryan Fay, a native of Ireland, was the first to be buried in this cemetery on October 8, 1854. The majority of the burials in this cemetery were prior to the 1920s and the last burial was in 1967.