Walnut Hills Cemetery is one of Cincinnati’s oldest, operating establishments.  It opened in1843 under the name of “The Second German Protestant Cemetery” and comprised of about 5 acres. The first meeting was held on Feb. 6, 1843, the first lots were recorded as sold on May 4, 1843 and the first burials were made on June 30, 1843. The original incorporators were Louis Wehmer, Charles Wolf, August Frieman, C.F. Bultmann and  Hermann Ficke. On Sept. 25, 1941, the name was officially changed to Walnut Hills Cemetery. This was done to eliminate some of the confusion with “The First German Protestant Cemetery” located in the 3600 block of Reading Road. That  cemetery, which opened in 1802,  had been closed for burials since 1864  after many victims of the cholera epidemics in Cincinnati in 1849 and 1864  had been buried there. It was thought at the time that even touching the  bones could spread the cholera germ again and start another epidemic.

Currently, the cemetery sits on over 70 rolling acres of Walnut Hills in Cincinnati, OH with over 50,000 burials. In support of the community and in conjunction with WEBN, each October there is a “Run Like Hell” 5K marathon to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation supported by the cemetery. Approximately 3,000 runners dash through this historic graveyard as part of the course.

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