Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA small pioneer cemetery near Schoolcraft, Michigan, resting place of Kalamazoo County's first settlers Bazel and Martha Harrison, famous for a 'glowing tombstone' that is said to fade when visitors draw near.
South 10th Street near WU Avenue, Schoolcraft, MI 49087
Research updated May 2026
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All Ages
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Free to visit; a small rural pioneer cemetery
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Small rural cemetery on grassy ground near a country crossroads
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Est. 1828 · Burial Place of Kalamazoo County's First Settlers · Bazel and Martha Harrison Graves · Prairie Ronde Pioneer History
Harrison Cemetery sits just south of the crossroads of South 10th Street and WU Avenue near Schoolcraft, in Prairie Ronde Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It is one of the area's oldest burial grounds, holding marble headstones dating to the pioneer era.
The cemetery takes its name from Bazel Harrison, recognized as the first permanent settler of Kalamazoo County. Born in Frederick County, Maryland, on March 15, 1772, Harrison came west and located at Prairie Ronde in November 1828, accompanied by his wife Martha and a large family that included six sons and four daughters. The Harrisons were among the founding settlers of the prairie country south of present-day Kalamazoo. Bazel Harrison lived to an extraordinary age — records give his birth as 1771 in most sources (some, including Harrison himself at times, cited 1772) and his death as 1874, placing him at roughly 102 or 103 years old, not the lower figure sometimes repeated in local accounts — and both he and Martha are interred in the cemetery that bears their name.
The cemetery's pioneer connections are documented in local-history resources including the Kalamazoo Public Library and genealogical records such as Find a Grave and BillionGraves. Today it remains a quiet rural graveyard, notable both for its early-settler history and for the unusual local legend attached to it.
Sources
Harrison Cemetery's enduring piece of folklore is the so-called glowing tombstone. According to accounts collected by 99.1 WFMK and shared widely in local lore, a person standing at a distance can see one particular tombstone glowing in the dark. The glow persists until the viewer reaches the edge of the cemetery, at which point it goes dark, and observers report being unable to pinpoint exactly which stone was glowing once they are close.
What makes the legend persistent is the absence of an obvious explanation. There are no lights around the cemetery to illuminate a stone, and the nearest house is said to be about a quarter mile away. Proposed natural explanations include phosphorescent material in the stone or mercury-vapor light reflecting off a polished surface, but locals note that neither readily explains why the glow consistently disappears once a visitor comes within a few hundred feet.
These accounts are presented as the cemetery's local legend, reported by regional outlets and area residents, rather than as a verified paranormal phenomenon. Visitors are reminded that this is an active historic cemetery and the resting place of real pioneer families, deserving of respect.
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Visit the small Harrison Cemetery near Schoolcraft, burial place of Kalamazoo County's first settlers Bazel and Martha Harrison, and the setting of the local 'glowing tombstone' legend. A quiet, historic rural graveyard.
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