Mt. Washington Cemetery & Arboretum

Thanks to All Who Helped Make the Historical Reenactment Tours Possible

We have many entities to thank for making the September 28 historical reenactment tours possible. They went our of their way to support this event:

Urban Banners made the lovely banner that advertised the tours. Their banners last forever since they are made of the highest quality. Joe is wonderful to work with!

Nancy Marshall, owner of Talk of the Town, is amazing! If you haven't been to Talk of the Town, you are in for a treat, especially right now if you are looking for Halloween costumes. The store consists of two giant floors packed with everything imaginable: costumes of all kinds and authentic vintage clothing and accessories, all in incredible condition at the most reasonable prices. Plan to spend some time here because there is so much to see and appreciate. Nancy knows where EVERYTHING is. Elizabeth and Ezra are great assistants too.

The Anderson Township Historical Society provided beautiful costumes to two of our reenactors, complete with historically accurate undergarments. If you have never visited the ATHS office and research archives, you will be amazed. The research center is located at 6444 Clough Pike, next to the Miller-Leuser Log House. The research center feels like it is part library and part museum. The Anderson Township Historical Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving historic data and artifacts in and around Anderson Township, Mt. Washington, Newtown, and California, Ohio. It is open Tuesdays, 10am to 2pm, and by appointment.

Last, but not least, thank you to the residents of Mt. Washington who voted, at the Mt. Washington Community Council, to provide the cemetery with a grant to offset the cost of the tour costumes and the banner. The funds came from the Neighborhood Support Program which finances projects that have a direct positive impact on residents' lives.

Thank you so much!!!

Giant Sequoia Sized Thanks to All Our Tree Friends for the OCISA Day of Service

What a day it was! Our amazing friend who is an expert arborist, Lily, lobbied for the Mt. Washington Cemetery to be the site of the Ohio Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture's Day of Service on October 4. The OCISA’s mission is to advance the practice of responsible tree care while promoting the benefits of trees.

Arborists from Bartlett Tree Experts, Davey Tree, and Madison Tree Care and Landscaping shared their passion for trees and their sweat equity to provide excellent tree care all day at no cost to the cemetery during the Day of Service.

The arborists used equipment loaned by their companies to remove huge, dead trees; prune dead branches; and selectively shape other trees to remove dead and broken branches and enhance their structure to create stronger, more balanced trees. They brought trucks with bucket lifts, skid steers for moving logs, wood chippers, and all kinds of cutting equipment. An amazing amount was accomplished in one day.

One location in Ohio is chosen for this honor every year and we were thrilled to be that place. It was a day of meaningful work and community impact. Being chosen by the OCISA for this day of service is a priceless gift to the cemetery. Words seem inadequate for a gift of this magnitude. The cemetery could never be maintained, let alone beautified, without the generosity of people and companies like these.

If you need tree work, please consider hiring one of these amazing companies:
Bartlett Tree Experts (513-577-7400), Davey Tree (513-370-2334), and Madison Tree Care and Landscaping (513-576-6391).

Volunteers Needed Tomorrow!
Cemetery Day of Service, 9am to 4pm
LUNCH PROVIDED!
October 4, 2025
Come for an hour or stay for the day.

Volunteers will assist with carrying tree limbs to the chipper/shredder trucks, pruning, and other gardening tasks. Join us for some meaningful work and community impact.

You will be able to park in the Mt. Washington Baptist Church parking lot across the street at 2021 Sutton Avenue.

Students who go to schools requiring community service, please bring your forms and Julie Rimer can fill them out to document your hours.

Hope to see you!

SATURDAY, October 4
9am to 4pm
Lunch Provided
Join us for a couple of hours or for the day!

In conjunction with the International Society of Arboriculture, the Mt. Washington Cemetery will be hosting a Day of Service. The OCISA is a group of people who are passionate about trees and making the planet a better place. The OCISA will provide excellent tree care at no cost to the cemetery during the Day of Service.

The event will take place at the Mt. Washington Cemetery at 2030 Sutton, Cincinnati, OH, 45230, on Saturday, October 4, from 9am to 4pm. Volunteers will assist with dead tree removal, pruning, vine clearing, string trimming, raking, mowing, and more. Come for a couple of hours or for the day. The cemetery will supply tools and lunch. Join us for a day of meaningful work and community impact.

You will be able to park in the Mt. Washington Baptist Church parking lot across the street at 2021 Sutton Avenue. We will provide lunch and I guarantee it will be a feel-good day.

We hope to have as many volunteers as possible to spruce up the cemetery. Volunteers can sign up at the Society of Arboriculture's website by pasting this link into the search bar or by clicking on the Day of Service image: https://ohiochapterisa.org/.../_blank/layout_details/false

LET'S GET NOSTALGIC IN PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY'S CEMETERY TOURS

Information on 1pm and 4pm September 28 tours in prior posts.

I have watched the Greater Cincinnati Water Works film of the Mt. Washington water tower being built more times than I can count. It is like stepping back in time.

If you watch carefully, at 01:00 minute into the film, you can see the beautiful cemetery in the background and at 01:09, you can see the mortuary, which looked different than it does today. it was a more gothic looking structure in its original Samuel Hannaford design. The roof used to be a pyramid roof where all four steeply sloped sides were triangular. There was a decorative finial at the top. There used to be a dormer-like structure that extended from the back side of the roof over the etched commemorative medallion which says the building was established in 1879. The original roof was slate. I’ve found many pieces of the lovely, muted gray, blue, rose and lavender tiles in the soil all around the building. In conversations with the trustees 38 years ago, I learned that the windows used to have ornamental wrought iron grate coverings that rusted out over time.

What are your favorite things about the film of the water tower being built?

I adore the dog that looks like an English setter with wet concrete on his lower legs having the time of his life free-roaming the construction site. The dog comes into view at the same time we see the concrete tram coming up the tracks at 01:30.

See the Masonic lodge in the background at 01:53, looking much as it does today. You can also see the former Mt. Washington United Methodist Church, built in 1851, that stood for over one hundred years where Tower Optical is now. The new church was built at 6365 Corbly.

What is the tall obelisk that comes into view at 02:37? It looks like some kind of memorial structure.

How long it took to pound in a nail at 03:10! All the hand and hard labor! How much must those concrete-filled wheelbarrows have weighed?

The worker lifting a concrete panel into place at 03:36 while wearing a fedora and smoking a cigar.

Mt. Washington, Ohio Reservoir Construction 1939-1940 Construction of the Mt. Washington, Ohio Reservoir (aka water storage tank) from 1939-1940 by the Greater Cincinnati Water Works. More info at www.Cincinnati...

MT. WASHINGTON CEMETERY TOURS ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
1PM AND 4PM

Don't forget to reserve your tickets for the Mt. Washington Cemetery's historical reenactment tour on Sunday, September 28. There will be tours at 1pm and 4pm. You can buy tickets at the gate ($20 adults, $10 children) or at a discount if you buy in advance ($15 adults, $7 children). Details on how to buy tickets are in the post below with a video teaser about the tours.

Another teaser: We are honored that the son of an acclaimed wildlife photographer, writer and filmmaker will tell us about his father on the tour. He wrote over 2,500 weekly nature columns for The Cincinnati Enquirer, and hundreds of articles for national publications. Do you know his name?

HISTORICAL REENACTMENT TOURS ARE COMING!!!
Sunday, September 28
1pm or 4pm

Please join us on Sunday, September 28th, either at 1pm or at 4pm, as we dress in historically appropriate attire and reenact the lives of eight people buried in the Mt. Washington Cemetery. The tours will last a tad more than an hour and it will be an easy, safe walk. I promise you that the tours will be fascinating!

The cemetery has been maintained by a group of neighbors who formed the non-profit Mt. Washington Cemetery Association in 1985. All proceeds from the tours will go to the care of the cemetery.

There are three ways you can buy tickets in advance, but know that tickets will be available at the gate the day of the tours. If you buy your tickets in advance, it is $15 per adult and $7 per child.

Ways to buy tickets in advance: 1) You can mail a check to the Mt. Washington Cemetery Association, PO Box 30025, Cincinnati, OH 45230. 2) You can go to cemeteryindex.com and click on the Mt. Washington Cemetery on the left side banner and you can scroll down to a Paypal donate button. 3) The last way is to use the QR code in the video that will take you to a tickets page.

If you purchase tickets the day of the tours, it will be $20 per adult and $10 per child at the gate.

https://youtu.be/xik0OCH8Mlo?si=TWBfuIHGuRedZfjh

Mt. Washington Cemetery Tour Promo Promo for September 28, 2025 Cemetery Tour at Mt. Washington Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio.

REVISED DATE FOR CEMETERY DAY OF SERVICE!!!
Saturday, October 4, 9am to 4pm

We have pushed back the date of the cemetery day of service to Saturday, October 4. In order to secure the participation of more arborists, we pushed back the date to hopefully have cooler weather.

Our amazing friend who is an expert arborist, Lily, lobbied for the Mt. Washington Cemetery to be the site of the Ohio Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture's Day of Service. The OCISA is a group of people who are passionate about trees and making the planet a better place, The OCISA will provide excellent tree care at no cost to the cemetery during the Day of Service.

One location in Ohio is chosen for this honor every year and we are thrilled to be it. The event will take place on Saturday, October 4, from 9am to 4pm. Volunteers will assist with dead tree removal, pruning, vine clearing, string trimming, raking, mowing, and more. Come for a couple of hours or for the day. If you can, please bring hand pruners, hand saws, rakes, string trimmers, or just yourself. Join us for a day of meaningful work and community impact.

Being chosen by the OCISA for this day of service is a priceless gift to our community. This historic cemetery, formerly abandoned, has been lovingly maintained by a small group of volunteers for forty years.

You will be able to park in the Mt. Washington Baptist Church parking lot across the street at 2021 Sutton Avenue. We will provide lunch and I guarantee it will be a feel-good day.

We hope to have as many volunteers as possible to spruce up the cemetery. Volunteers can sign up at the Society of Arboriculture's website by pasting this link into the search bar or by clicking on the Day of Service image:
https://ohiochapterisa.org/aws/OCISA/login/login_or_create_account?follow_up_url=https%3A%2F%2Fohiochapterisa.org%2Faws%2FOCISA%2Fregistration%2Fadd_registrations_prompt%3Fevent_id%3D83667%26host%3Dretain&org_host=ohiochapterisa.org&org_session=a1fa80fd55c2c5b4b8e8245c9201bd6c

We are looking for sexton help (volunteer) to manage burials and issue documents (deeds, invoices, etc.) using our CemeteryPro software. If you are interested please contact David Haldeman at 513-484-9729 or [email protected]

Call now to connect with business.

With a Whole Lotta Help from Our Friends at the American Legion Post 484

Valerie Ratchford, volunteer extraordinaire at the Mt. Washington Cemetery and a member of the American Legion Post 484 Auxiliary, has been working on a passion project for months at the cemetery.

Valerie was concerned about the Civil War headstone of Private John A. Bogart. John was in the 70th Ohio Infantry, Company D, during the Civil War. He mustered in on September 10, 1861, at the West Union fairgrounds, and he mustered out of service in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 14, 1865, having served a period of 3 years, 11 months, and 15 days, an exceptionally long period of service in the Civil War. John’s brother, Corporal James H. Bogart, also enlisted and mustered out on the same days as John. John had another brother who fought in the 70th Ohio Infantry, Company D, in the Civil War: William S. Bogart (December 4, 1863 to June 12, 1865).

As Michael A. Knous wrote in his University of Texas thesis about the 70th Ohio Infantry, their story “is not just a narrative of battles but also of survival, endurance, and an almost unbelievable war record. (…) At the Battle of Shiloh, they helped protect the western flank of the Army of the Tennessee and had perhaps their finest hour of the war. At the Battle of Atlanta, they held their position in the center of the Fifteenth Corps line while Confederates nearly surrounded them. Without their steadfast resolve it is possible the Fifteenth Corps could have been shattered that day. At the Battle of Ezra Church, the 70th Ohio held the center of the Fifteenth Corps line again for five hours and through their actions kept the Fifteenth Corps from being split in two. The 70th Ohio was without a doubt one of the most effective and reliable regiments of the entire Western Theatre of the American Civil War.”

If you, like me, enjoy doing a deep dive into history, you can read a fascinating account of the history of the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry at a wonderful website managed by the Ulysses S. Grant Homestead Association at this link: https://usgrantboyhoodhome.org/70th-ovi

There are memorials dedicated to the 70th Ohio Infantry is several locations: Vicksburg, Mississippi; Shiloh, Tennessee; and Decatur, Ohio. The 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry's surviving battle flag is kept in the Ohio state capitol.

After the Civil War, John Bogart married Emma Clara Miller on January 7, 1870. John and Emma lived in a house on Ohio Pike (present day Beechmont Avenue) in Anderson Township. They had two sons, Frank and LeMot. John was a farmer his whole life. He died on April 10, 1917.

His family placed both a government-issued Civil War headstone and another headstone at his gravesite in the Mt. Washington Cemetery. Between these headstones and the large Bogart family monument, an ash tree was planted more than one hundred years ago. As the tree grew, its roots became entwined with the headstones, eventually breaking them into pieces. The cemetery lost 28 massive ash trees to the emerald ash borer.

Valerie Ratchford was dismayed that a long-serving Civil War soldier no longer had an intact headstone. Val ordered a replacement Civil War headstone from the U.S. Government. For months now, Val has worked to dig out all the broken parts of both headstones, as well as the extensive base of the Civil War headstone. She has been aided in this task by another wonderful cemetery volunteer, Mary Lou Bolce. Preparing the site for the new headstone has involved Val expertly wielding a large axe to remove the ash roots and using a shovel and pry bar to remove the pieces of the headstones.

While the government will provide the headstone, the cemetery must pay to have it shipped and installed on a new base. The Bogart family monument will also need to be shored up. These tasks are expensive. Val made a presentation to describe the project to three groups of the American Legion Post 484 and all three groups - the American Legion Legionnaires, the Sons of the American Legion, and the American Legion Auxiliary - made extremely generous donations that will cover these tasks and more. When the headstone is erected, the American Legion Post 484 will join the cemetery volunteers for a dedication ceremony for John A. Bogart.

The Mt. Washington Cemetery Association is indebted to the generosity of organizations like the American Legion Post 484 that have allowed the volunteers to not only maintain, but to improve the Mt. Washington Cemetery. We are forever grateful.

Sources:
Ancestry.com
Newspapers.com
Anderson Township Historical Society
Michael A. Knous, University of Texas at Tyler thesis
Ulysses S. Grant Homestead Association

Tomorrow night is Mt. Washington's Third of July Parade from 5pm to 8pm to celebrate Independence Day.

The wonderful group that pulls this all together, the Mt. Washington Community Development Corporation, is desperately in need of six volunteers who can walk the parade carrying 3 banners. Can you help?

If you are willing to be in the parade with us, please provide your name in the comments section or send a message to [email protected] and I will give your name to the parade organizers.

Thank you so much!!!