Driving around town, you may be stopped at a stoplight and glance over and be surprised to see a few old gravestones in a tiny cemetery. There are five of these tucked away in Beavercreek.

Sunnyside Cemetery:

• Located on North Fairfield Road, just north of Kemp Road.
• On the site of old Mount Pisgah German Reformed Church, which held services as early as 1809.
• The cemetery is also known as Old Pisgah Cemetery.
• The land was owned by Jonathan Harshman.
• The earliest known burial was John Helmer in 1823.
• Surnames of Cyphers, Goldshot, Harshman, Howett, Koogler, Reigelsperger, Sensenbaugh, Swigert, and Trubee are found on the gravestones.
• The last known burial was in 1957.

George Zimmerman Cemetery

• Located on Dayton-Xenia Road, just east of Fire Station No. 62
• Also known as the Haverstick Cemetery
• Located on the John Durnbaugh Farm; formally owned by the Kooglers, and in 1883, by Catherine Haverstick
• Headstones of 4 adults still standing, but there were at least 4 other adults and some children buried here.
• The four known burials are:
  • Dr. George Zimmerman – one of the first doctors in Beavercreek
  • Nancy Durnbaugh Zimmerman
  • Philip Harshman
  • Frances Harshman

Coy Cemetery

• Located on southeast corner of N. Fairfield and Shakertown Road
• One of the first cemeteries in Beavercreek
• Eight burials dating from 1802-1877, with gravestones for Brown, Coy, and Schmeltzer
• First burial was Jacob Coy’s daughter, Catherine Coy Schmeltzer in 1802
• Graves from the Schmidt Cemetery were relocated to Coy Cemetery

Reese-Petro Cemetery

• Located on Unity Drive, tucked away in a residential neighborhood.
• Established on the Reese homestead, which was purchased in 1800.
• The Reese family and Petro family were neighbors and friends.
• The cemetery contains 32 gravestones, including Reese, Petro, Ankeney, Booker, Duncan, Grindle, Miller, Stewart, Trubee, and Warner.

Nesbitt Cemetery

• No longer in existence but was located west of Beaver Valley Road, across from the Siebenthaler land.
• Established in 1828, presumably to bury Samuel Nesbitt, the son of Jacob Nesbitt, one of the first settlers of Beavercreek.
• The graves were relocated to the Coy Cemetery when the Fox Ridge subdivision was built.

Interestingly, another cemetery named Howell or Hering Cemetery once existed off of Beaver Valley Road. The area is now fully residential. Local author Arthur R. Kilner, who wrote Greene County Past & Present took photos of the gravestones that were still standing in 1987 and donated the images to the Greene County Historical Society.

12 years later, Kilner went back to discover that the cemetery had been built over by a housing development. The burials were not relocated or reinterred, but instead the builders had placed steel stakes underground marking the four corners of the cemetery. Kilner took one more picture of the front yard of the house built over the cemetery, and also donated that picture to the GCHS.