September 29, 2025 at 9:50 a.m.
Talking Tombstones Gives Glimpse of Stories Past
The Yellow Trail Museum and Columbus Area Visitor’s Center is honored to be partnering with the Bartholomew County Historical Society for a special presentation of Talking Tombstones in the Hope Moravian Cemetery to celebrate the Museum’s 50th anniversary.
God’s Acre in the Hope Moravian Cemetery is a very unique place. The story goes that on June 16, 1830, then men of Hope had met to prepare the log cabin that would serve as the first Moravian Church in Indiana and as the local school. When they took a noontime meal break, one of the men decided to go hunting for a piece of venison for Sunday’s meal. It wasn’t long until the others heard the report of his gun, and he soon called them to an area that would become God’s Acre. He felt that the gentle hill near Haw Creek would provide the best place for the cemetery. Legend says that this place was selected because the deer was a heavy as a dead man, and it took eight men to carry it back to the church. Therefore, this place was the best location since that was as far as eight men could carry a body.
The cemetery is arranged in choirs. The early Moravians believed people should work and worship with others most like themselves. This system of dividing people into groups according to age, sex, and marital status was called the choir system.
God’s Acre is divided into eight choirs: one for young boys, young girls, unmarried men, unmarried women, married men, married women, widowers, and widows. When a person died, they were buried in the next available plot in the choir. The style of tombstone located in God’s Acre is also unique. All the tombstones were to be flat.
The Moravians felt everyone was to be equal in death. The flat stones did not allow for anyone to be above another. Several gravestones in God’s Acre have a flat slab with a footer area suitable for flower planting. This style of gravestone, a mix between a box tomb and cradle, is unique to Hope, Indiana.
Tickets for the tour are $15 in advance or $20 the day of and may be purchased at the Bartholomew County Historical Society, the Yellow Trail Museum, and on Eventbrite.
