Pewamo Cemetery, 10666 E. Pewamo Road, Pewamo MI

This very small cemetery holds three (at least) civil war veterans. These are the graves we found and could identify. Captain Amos W. Sherwood served with the 86th New York Infantry. He was wounded in 1863 in the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.

Robert Clark (1839-1920) was a member of the 30th Michigan Infantry, Company K. He was from St. Johns, Michigan, and was 24 years old when he began to serve.

Wickleff McGowan was from Lima, Ohio, and signed up at age 16 as a drummer boy with the 182nd Onio Infantry, Company K. After the war, he settled in Pewamo.

William C. Sweeney died on March 10, 1878 but any more information was elusive.

Here are a few more old gravesites we happened upon.

Mary & Joseph were out on their own with no family plot name in sight.

This headstone is completely wearing away.

The most elaborate structure here is for the Shumways and we ended our walkabout with them.

If you ever find yourself in Pewamo, check out this tiny cemetery.

John Herbert Dillinger ~ June 22, 1903 - July 24, 1934

Dillinger led a very brief and brutal life, dying at the age of 31. From age 21-30, he was incarcerated for robbing a grocery store and learned his bank robbing skills from other prisoners. Paroled in 1933, Dillinger and his gang began their bank robbing spree. Considering how famous he is/was, I was surprised to learn that he was active only from May 1933 until his death on July 24, 1934.

Besides the bank-robbing, Dillinger was noted for his two jail-breaks. The first was in Lima, Ohio, after being arrested in Dayton. The Allen County Museum in Lima has the actual jail cell in which he was held and where members of his gang broke him out and killed the sheriff. We stopped in the museum last month to see the exhibit.

After one other jail break in Crown Point, Indiana, and a nationwide manhunt, Dillinger was shot and killed in an alley outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago where he had just finished watching "Manhattan Melodrama" with a woman who had informed the police of his whereabouts.

We took some pictures of the Biograph on our last trip to Chicago.

Four death masks were made after Dillinger's death and the Allen County Museum has a copy of one of them.

Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis holds the Dillinger family plot and we made a quick visit a few years ago.

His mother, Mollie, who died when John was 4 years old.

His step-mother, Lizzie, who died a year before John.

And his father, John, who lived another 10 years after his infamous son died. His life strikes me as the saddest of them all.

The grave of John Herbert Dillinger is obviously well visited and the stone has been replaced several times due to people breaking off chunks as souvenirs. There was some recent talk about having Dillinger's body exhumed to prove, or disprove, that it was really his body. Some family relatives supported this and others, along with the cemetery, objected. To date, Dillinger lies undisturbed below his stone.

Abandoned Church or School ~ Michigan

We randomly came across this building one day and thought it looked more like an old church than a school but found no confirmation either way.

It appears to be quite abandoned but still contains debris.

Its better days are long behind it.

Here is an update from Martin Hogan on this building in Portland:

Presbyterian Church organized in 1867, a split in the Congregational Church.

A lack of records over the latter part of the 19th Century, but was acquired by United Brethren in the early 1900’s.

In 1923, it became Church Of The Nazarene. They used it until they moved to a new location on Cutler Road.

Current ownership unknown.

Oak Hill Cemetery, 255 South Avenue, Battle Creek MI

We've made two visits here ~ one in February and one in May. May is much better 😊 Maps are available in the office and are highly recommended. The C.W. Post mausoleum came up first.

More Posts.

Sojourner Truth lies just behind the Post Mausoleum.

I took a tumble in the snow over Haritt Slade.

The beautiful statue known as "Crying Mary" looks more like a Greek goddess and she doesn't cry.

Both children of Johannes and Ruth Decker passed away young and when Johannes later died, Ruth commissioned this statue and lived for another 15 years. It's a sad family story.

We couldn't get close to Bill Knapp in the winter but found him again in May.

Junior Walker

Alan Boston, a hot air balloon pilot.

The Seventh-Day Adventist church was founded in Battle Creek, and James and Ellen White were among its founders. They have a large family plot here.

Kelloggs can be found throughout the cemetery, not surprisingly. The founder of the Kellogg company, Will Keith Kellogg, has his family plot within a black wrought iron fence.

More Kelloggs.

I tried to find information about this gravesite back in February but to no avail.

Several tree trunk gravestones.

We found these unique table gravestones with a sweet sentiment carved into one of them.

A large scroll tops the stone for the Deshon family.

A life cut short.

Killed in the Battle of the Bulge.

The founder of Battle Creek.

Making a statement.

And lastly, this is just for fans of "It's A Wonderful Life."

The cemetery here in the Cereal Capital of the World teems with history and is well worth a visit.