Waugh Cemetery

Today's Walk Through the Tombstones is at the Waugh Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana.  It is located behind the Winslow Park YMCA near the upper playground.

GPS Coordinates: 39.14302, -86.51468

This poor little cemetery is in a sad state of disrepair.  There is only one standing headstone and at least three basestones with bits and pieces of broken headstones littered in the clearing.  It's sad.

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Our first stop is at the grave of Rachel Sarah Amanda Waugh.

Born: December 21, 1825
Died: March 5, 1852, Monroe County, Indiana

She was the wife of James Waugh (?-?).  He is shown to be buried at Waugh Cemetery, but I couldn't locate his headstone.

Above her name on the headstone it says "no.2".  I am not sure, exactly what that means.   I am not sure if she was the second wife or if she was the second grave buried.

There was another headstone here for Esther Anne Isabella Waugh (1828-1850).  The last photo of her headstone was about a year ago, but it is not there now.  Above her name, it says "1st".  This leads me to believe that she was James' first wife and Rachel was his second.

UPDATE:  Thanks to an email from a visitor: "James' headstone is actually what the tall obelisk is sitting on in the picture. The IU Center for Veteran and Military Students is taking on restoring this cemetery as a service project starting this weekend."  Thank you for the information!!!!


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There are several broken headstones here.  I know that James Waugh is supposed to be buried here, but I am not sure which was his headstone.  There is one that had a lovely willow tree carved into it (look right).  A portion of the headstone is there, but I couldn't find any more of it to determine any information on  it.  There was one that looked like it said Elizabeth, but I couldn't be sure since it was broken up quite a bit.  I have a feeling that there are more burials here than just the ones listed.  There may be children here as well as other family.  Unfortunately, we may never know.

 These headstones seem to be from several different ones.  So much damage to such a small family gravesite.  It's sad and makes me terribly angry.


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I hope that you have enjoyed your short trip through Waugh Cemetery.

Please, PLEASE, let me know if you have any information about these graves.  I would love to be able to know more and help preserve this cemetery that is rapidly being lost. 

Please visit the listing at Find-A-Grave.