BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[cemetery]](/editions/1998/11/27/cemetery_160x124.jpg)
The Runyan cemetery, a relic of the 1800s, is surrounded by urban sprawl.
(Dick Swaim photo)
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SHARONVILLE - Rarely does silence hang over this century-old resting place of a dozen or more souls.
When the graves were dug here in the 1800s, they topped a grassy hillside that was chosen, most likely, for the Runyan pioneer family plot because of its peaceful setting.
No more. The cemetery - a small rectangle of green bordered by a split-rail fence - abuts the noisy arena of a gas station and car wash, an Interstate-275 on-ramp, a parking garage and busy U.S. 42.
The tallest thing in this graveyard looms about 80 feet above the headstones, from metal poles planted at the rear of the plot: a giant, yellow Shell Oil Co. sign.
It's the resting place of Henry L. Runyan and his family. Mr. Runyan was a settler of the Sharonville area, arriving from Virginia in 1792. He owned more than 700 acres - land now bordered by U.S. 42, and Crescentville, Kemper and Mosteller roads. Interstate 275 splits what was the Runyan farm.
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5-PART SERIES
In the past eight years, thousands of new residents have relocated to Southwestern Ohio and Southeastern Indiana. Their arrival has turned once-isolated farms into sprawling subdivisions, and small towns have struggled to maintain public services to the residents.
Also threatened have been the rich pasts and historical icons found in Butler, Warren, Clermont and Warren counties in Ohio, and Dearborn, Switzerland and Ohio counties in Indiana.
Wednesday through Sunday, Enquirer reporters will profile historic people and places in the region. It's an opportunity to tell new and old residents alike of the area's famous and sometimes forgotten past.
Wednesday: The legacy of the Shakers of Warren County.
Thursday: Hamilton's Millionaire's Row
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Passersby easily can miss the little oasis tucked beneath the sign in this unlikely setting. Maybe Phoebe McBride's marker - a six-foot, marble obelisk commemorating her death at age 63 in September 1883 - catches their attention for a second through the car window.
What was that - a headstone?
"Some do notice it and ask about it," said Kim Wilson, of her customers in the Shell station store. "I see it when I take the trash out. It's a shame it's so run down."
Its age is showing. Broken marker stones lie toppled on the ground; rain and wind have blurred much of the lettering.
But the roughly 140-foot by 72-foot plot is cared for and not forgotten.
The Sharonville Historical Society put up the fence and a sign announcing, "Runyan Historical Cemetery." Society members are trying to learn more about who is buried there. City workers keep the grass mowed and maintain a gravel entryway.
"We are trying to restore it. There would be an outcry if we just let it go," said Bill Lewis, a member of Sharonville City Council and the historical society.
The society began to document information about the grave sites around 1988 - Sharonville's bicentennial. Bob Houston, another council and society member, remembers the hours he spent digging beneath the sod to locate the base of broken-off headstones.
Six hidden graves were discovered and marked, scattered headstones were brought back into place and a list was compiled of 17 people buried there.
"The stones are heavy - it's not an easy job, and we want to do it right," Mr. Houston said.
The cemetery is one of hundreds of family plots once scattered around Hamilton County's rural areas, from a time when people buried their loved ones near home. Many of the plots have disappeared as commercial buildings and homes encroached. The markers and coffins were moved to active cemeteries, following laws that protect abandoned graves.
"We're having a hard time figuring out how large the cemetery originally was," Mr. Houston said. "I can guarantee some bodies were moved."
The Runyans probably built what was known as a station, a stronghold surrounded by a stockade fence that offered protection to the Runyans and surrounding families during Indian attacks. Attacks on early settlers were so frequent that the land between the Big and Little Miami rivers was called "the Miami slaughter house."
Sharonville City Council recently learned the cemetery's land is owned by Shell and is researching whether that obligates the company to maintain it.
Regardless, the Runyan plot will continue to get attention, Mr. Lewis said. A partnership is in the works among the historical society, the local garden club and city officials to keep the cemetery looking neat and to "document what stories are there."
![[cemetery]](/editions/1998/11/27/cemetery_500x389.jpg)