PONTIAC, Mich. – Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac has been around almost as long as the city has.
Due to its founding more than 200 years ago, the city has a vast and unique history -- which can be clearly seen at the Oak Hill Cemetery. The first burials were around 1840.
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It’s the final resting place of many famous and notable people, including Dr. Harold Furlong -- the only World War I Medal of Honor winner buried in Michigan -- and Lisette Denison Forth -- the first Black landowner in Pontiac. Forth was born into slavery, gained her freedom and originally owned part of the property that would become Oak Hill Cemetery.
Chris Hubel works in real estate, but he’s a Pontiac historian by choice. He is one of many who have been intrigued by the cemetery -- one of the oldest in the county.
“The most prominent figure that was buried here would probably be late Michigan Governor Moses Wisner,” Hubel said. “Six individuals from the Revolutionary War are buried here, as well as, I believe, 27 from the Civil War.”
It’s believed that more than 200 people from the old Pontiac state asylum are buried in the cemetery.
“These individuals were buried here without names on headstones,” Hubel said.
When Pontiac fell into hardship, vandalism was rampant at the cemetery, but within the last decade, the historic grounds were cleaned up and restored.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
More information can be found on the Oakland History Center website.
The Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society provides tours of Oak Hill Cemetery. https://events.getlocalhop.com/oak-hill-cemetery-walk/event/3WUMF5ADfE/?.
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