Among the Oldest Burial Grounds in Missouri, 1811
10845 Gravois Road, Crestwood, MO 63126
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; the cemetery is owned and maintained by the City of Crestwood.
Access
Limited Access
Grass with uneven historic-stone footing
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1811 · Pioneer Cemetery · Revolutionary War Veteran · Enslaved Persons Burial
The cemetery began as a family burial ground for the Sappington family on land that was part of an early 19th-century plantation south of St. Louis. Sgt. John Sappington, born September 3, 1750, served under General George Washington at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War and died on August 10, 1815. He was among the first interred at the site.
His son Thomas Sappington (January 22, 1783 to May 15, 1860) is also buried in the cemetery. Thomas built a brick home on the family land in 1808 that survives today as the Thomas Sappington House Museum, operated under the auspices of the City of Crestwood. The house is one of the oldest surviving brick structures in St. Louis County.
Additional burials at the cemetery include pioneer settlers, neighbors, and Civil War-era servicemen. Local historical research has documented that the cemetery is also believed to contain the unmarked remains of enslaved people who labored on the Sappington plantation, a fact the City of Crestwood acknowledges as part of the site's full historical record.
The City of Crestwood owns and maintains the cemetery. The United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System notes the cemetery as "the oldest burial ground in Missouri," though similar claims attach to other early-19th-century sites in the state.
Sources
The cemetery's inclusion in haunted-site directories appears largely tied to its age and the documented presence of unmarked burials of enslaved people. Specific witness accounts in published paranormal-investigation reports are limited.
Local lore mentions occasional reports of figures glimpsed among the stones in evening light, but the cemetery's small size and proximity to busy Gravois Road make it a daytime-walk destination rather than a serious investigation site. Visitors who come for the historical content rather than for paranormal phenomena typically pair the cemetery with the Thomas Sappington House Museum a short distance away.
Walk among 19th-century grave markers including the burial of Sgt. John Sappington (1750-1815), who served at Valley Forge under General Washington, and his son Thomas Sappington (1783-1860), whose nearby home now operates as the Thomas Sappington House Museum.
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