About
About the Westwood Cemetery Gravestone Transcription Project
In 1999 the Oberlin Heritage Center launched the Westwood Cemetery Gravestone Transcription Project with the goal of creating a fully descriptive, searchable, free, online database, replete with linked photographs. Since then, OHC volunteers have recorded information about the approximately 9,000 individuals buried in the cemetery and about the markers—including family stones, headstones, footstones, corner stones, and carriage stones—on their graves. As our work progressed, we discovered that almost one-quarter of the graves in Westwood are unmarked. Despite the name of the project, we decided to include them in the database. Further complexity arose when we realized that a considerable number of markers are actually memorials to soldiers, missionaries, and other loved ones who are buried elsewhere, or nowhere; we added them to the database too.
By 2015 we realized that the original online database system was difficult to maintain, access, and use. The Oberlin Heritage Center is greatly indebted to the Oberlin College Library and Oberlin College Archives for designing and hosting the more user-friendly and dynamic Omeka platform you see today.
About Westwood Cemetery
Westwood Cemetery was dedicated on July 16, 1864 and is located in southwest Oberlin on Morgan Street. Westwood is owned and operated by the City of Oberlin and contains over 9,000 burials. Today many residents walk, jog, and bike the pathways of this peaceful and picturesque memorial park. If you would like to know more about the history of Westwood Cemetery, please visit our Westwood Cemetery page for links to brochures and information.