Cemeteries Cemeteries

Cook Cemetery – 8527 N. 400 East, Greenfield, IN 46140  - 1.4 acres

Description – Cook Cemetery is in section twenty-two located on the east side of 400 East between Road 234 and 900 North. 

Laid out in an inverted L. shape and dotted with cedar trees, the grounds are maintained by the township. 

Sarah Wilson and her seven-year-old niece, Anaretta Cass, both victims of an 1878 murder are buried here.

This burying ground was used by the Center Grove Methodist Church which was organized in 1845 and located three miles east of Eden.  Services were held at the church until 1897.  

Today, there is a sight of a new meeting old- a white vinyl fence is attached to the old iron archway entrance with its overhead curved letters declaring, Cook Cemetery.  The original entrance gates still display their attractive ornamental scrollwork but are rusted in a permanent open position.  Excerpt from Hancock County Tombstone Inscriptions: One Hundred Years, 1833-1933 by Sue Baker

Update:  In 2026 - we removed 3 over 100 year old cedars and 3 other trees to help ensure stones were not damaged from their age. Also in 2026, Sacred Preservation was hired to preserve all the stones in the cemetery for part of our capital improvement plan and to continue to tell their story.

Maple Grove/Jackson/Olvey Cemetery – 8503 N. Olvey Road, Fortville, IN  46040    1.3 acres

Description:  This cemetery is in section twenty-four located on 850 North between State Road 234 and 900 North.  It seems different generations know it by different names.

On this site in 1830, there was a small log house (16x20 feet) built and used as a Baptist Church.   The graveyard remains to mark the first church in Green Township, as well as a large number of burials.  The first interment was Samuel Walker.

Elder Morgan McQuery organized the Baptist society and preached there for several years before it was moved to Vernon Township about the time of the Civil War.

During the latter 1870’s a Friends congregation was organized and by the 1880s a church building was erected and named Maple Grove.  It served the area until it was destroyed by fire about 1900.   

Lee Olvey had kept up insurance on the church and money received was used toward the construction of a new building.  Adjoining the church is a beautiful cemetery formerly knows as the Jackson /Olvey and later simply known as Olvey.

About 1906 Mr. Olvey expended quite a sum of money in improving the grounds, making cement walks and fencing.  Among others who donated days of labor were:  Joseph A. Fuqua, George Andis, Frank Andis and General Jackson.

The Mape Grove Friends Church’s second building was destroyed by a storm in 1928 and not rebuilt.

Today, there is not a trace of the church building; the cement walks still peek thorough the ground and are visible as they crisscross the cemetery.

Even after eighty-six years, most of the fence is still standing.  It is made of sections of tall, iron pickets connected by decorative cement posts.  

The grounds are maintained by the township and the Hancock County Cemetery Commission and volunteers continue to help restore the stones in the cemetery. 

Excerpt from Hancock County Tombstone Inscriptions: One Hundred Years, 1833-1933 by Sue Baker

Updates: In 2024 & 2025 we removed 4 large trees that had grown together that were extremely dangerous to our historic stones. This cemetery is currently being preserved by volunteers from the Hancock County Cemetery Commission.