It’s telling that this stone stands within sight of the capitol grounds. I’d bet only a handful of people know it’s here, or that it’s one of only a few remaining at the old Greenwood Cemetery.

I wrote before about this cemetery, located south of Mandan near my boyhood home. Now the city is expanding southward and encroaching upon it; in fact, the entry to it in my original post doesn’t even exist now. A new water tower is being constructed nearby, and it’s got a few back yards adjacent to it.

It’s pretty much abandoned, although Morton County takes care of it. A few stones from the 1800s remain, but there were some pretty big surprises outside of what would seem to be the cemetery grounds. Last year, crews working on the new water tower uncovered some unmarked graves. The news reports were written to give the impression that there were only a couple, but that’s not the case. There were over FORTY. Law enforcement personnel worked extra shifts to protect the site from grave robbers until the situation could be handled. This article gives a little bit of detail on that process.

This hill could tell a lot of stories if it could talk, to be sure. At this point there probably aren’t any more unexpected graves, at least not any more groups of forty-two. There are, however, a few remaining stones like the one pictured above. I’d like to let the markings on it tell that story for you:

JOHN S. MANN
NOV 30, 1815 TO SEPT 22, 1891

ELIZABETH D
MAR 6, 1811 TO NOV 12, 1874

ELLA
SEPT 28, 1882 TO OCT 8, 1891

OUR DARLING
DIED SEPT 14, 1883

You can find out more about the history of this cemetery in this book at the state archives at the Heritage Center.