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The effort to restore Cincinnati's long-neglected Potter's Field cemetery

 This grave marker for Ervin D. Brill is one of the many obscured by weeds and overgrowth at Potter's Field in West Price Hill.
Michael Morgan
/
Courtesy
This grave marker for Ervin D. Brill is one of the many obscured by weeds and overgrowth at Potter's Field in West Price Hill.

As many as 20,000 are buried in an overgrown cemetery in West Price Hill known as Potter’s Field.

The cemetery dates to 1852, when government officials began using the site to bury people who couldn’t afford burial in another cemetery or who were unknown at the time of their deaths.

Cincinnati and Hamilton County stopped using the site in 1981, and much of the land has become a tangle of weeds and invasive species.

But the National Park Service recently awarded a grant to the nonprofit Price Hill Will to begin the difficult work of restoring Potter’s Field.

Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss Potter’s Field and the restoration project are Cincinnati Park Board Division of Natural Resources land manager Garrett Dienno; the person leading the Potter’s Field initiative for Price Hill Will, Michael Morgan; and Archaeological Research Institute Senior Archaeologist Marcus Schulenburg.

You can find more information about Potter’s Field and the federal grant in this news release online.

Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.

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Updated: August 21, 2022 at 4:20 PM EDT
This episode first aired May 31, 2022.
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