Woodland Cemetery (Monroe)

01 / The story of this place

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Woodland Cemetery is one of Michigan's oldest public burial grounds, established in 1810 in Monroe, the small river town where Robert S. Duncanson grew up. Formerly known as Grove Cemetery, it holds the graves of many of Monroe's earliest settlers, veterans of the War of 1812's Battle of Frenchtown, and other figures central to the area's founding. Duncanson, a self-taught African American painter who became one of the first internationally recognized American landscape artists, working in the Hudson River School style from a Cincinnati studio, was buried here in 1872 after his death in Detroit. The Michigan Historical Commission designated the ten-acre cemetery a state historic site in 1988, recognizing its role in the region's earliest history. Woodland Cemetery remains an active, city-owned cemetery open to visitors today.

1. One of Michigan's oldest public cemeteries, established in 1810.
2. Formerly known as Grove Cemetery; holds War of 1812 veterans' graves.
3. Painter Robert S. Duncanson was buried here in 1872.
4. Designated a Michigan state historic site in 1988.