The Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution hosted the reinterment of a male pioneer on June 30 at Mountain Home Cemetery.
The man’s remains were discovered by accident in an area known as the “Pioneer Cemetery” near the corner of Park Place and South Westnedge Avenue in November of 2024. Based on the location of the remains, experts believe the man was one of Kalamazoo County’s earliest settlers.
Christine Pink is a forensic anthropologist at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine and studied the remains along with a team from WMU’s Forensic Anthropology Department. Pink said the man is estimated to have been born in the late 1790s.
“We found a fairly intact and complete skeleton, and then some associated things like nails that were probably coffin nails that dated back to the 1800s that were consistent with that time period and found in close association with the remains. So that helped us to lock down the era that they died in,” Pink said.
Evan Kutzler, Associate Professor of History at Western Michigan University, says the remains were “inadvertently” discovered under Park Place during repairs to city infrastructure. Kutzler said the area now known as South Westnedge Park was originally a pioneer cemetery where some of Kalamazoo county’s earliest settlers of European descent are buried.
“It had not been a cemetery since 1862 or had no new interment since 1862. It was overgrown. There was interest in developing out the South side of Kalamazoo and today what is the Vine neighborhood, and so there was a decision to change it into a park. And that's the point at which all the headstones were buried underneath the ground,” Kutzler said.
Gary Swain, founder of Friends of Kalamazoo Historic Cemeteries, said the man will join several other pioneers who have been reinterred at Mountain Home.
”This cemetery is probably the site for, as far as we know, about 75 people that have been moved from the Pioneer Cemetery. So that number is probably 76 now, although we're still finding more,” Swain said.
Kutzler said the remains were reinterred at Mountain Home Cemetery as a sign of respect and to make sure the remains were not accidentally re-discovered once more. He said this discovery highlights the history of Park Place and South Westnedge as a pioneer burial ground.
“The next step is, I think, to use this as an opportunity to think about - what do we know about that park and that cemetery, and how can we avoid another inadvertent discovery like this in the future? So, it comes down to planning and respecting the layers of the place. We love it as a park, but also respect it as a cemetery,” Kutzler said.
The remains were reinterred in the “K” section of Mountain Home Cemetery, which is open to the public.
