Rural Hill Cemetery, 215 W. Seven Mile Rd

Rural Hill Cemetery

Ira Rice claimed the southwest corner of the cemetery property in 1826 by a land patent issued by President John Quincy Adams in October of that year. The land was sold to Hiram Robinson in July of 1830. He subsequently died and left the land to William H. Robinson. The property went through several owners after that. Eventually the land the cemetery sits on was originally part of the farm of M.D. Gorton, who was one of the organizers of the cemetery.

The Rural Hill Cemetery Association was formed on Dec. 17, 1885 and it purchased the land from Major Gorton and his wife for $1,286.25. The first board of directors included F.R. Beal, J.M. Swift, C.M. Thornton, M.A. Porter, M.D. Gorton, L.W. Simmons, L.W. Hutton, A. D. Kendrick and F.W. Clark. Their names all appear on cemetery memorials in Rural Hill. The organization was established as a non-profit civic enterprise with each member paying $125.

The first lots in the cemetery were sold for $15 to $40 each. On July 8, 1908, the association was reorganized and the corporation was chartered for an additional 30 years. Over the years, the association found the upkeep and record-keeping to be difficult. Thus, on May 25, 1948, they sold the cemetery to the Village of Northville for one dollar. No records were found for burials made prior to the 1930s. Former Sen. Robert Geake and former Northville Record Editor Jack Hoffman worked to re-create records from the marked graves in the cemetery and completed their project in 1977.

Visit Scout graves:
Dawson Compo June 1, 2002 – Jan 2, 2021 Airplane crash 19 yo
Dominic Duhn Jan 28, 2000 – Sept 3, 2020 Skateboard/traffic accident 20 yo
Alec Raymond April 15, 1992 – April 12, 2014 MS almost 22 yo
Karl Stockhausen Apr 8, 1981 - Sept 13, 2009 Cancer 28 yo
Todd Schoenheide February 28, 1988 - April 10, 2005 Bike/traffic accident 17 yo
Mickey Swancutt Jan 12, 1981 – July 11, 1998 Leukemia 19 yo