18th-Century Swiss Settler Burial in Moraine State Park
Off Burton Road, Moraine State Park, Portersville, PA 16051
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; the cemetery is on Pennsylvania state-park land.
Access
Limited Access
Forest footpath from Burton Road; cemetery is in mowed grass surrounded by woods
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1780 · Swiss Settler Cemetery · Moraine State Park Historic Burial · 18th-Century Pennsylvania Family Plot
Conrad and Nancy Snyder emigrated from Switzerland to western Pennsylvania in the 1770s and acquired roughly three thousand acres in what is now Butler County. The family operated a working farm and established a small burial ground on their property, where Conrad and several generations of his descendants were eventually interred.
The surrounding region remained agricultural through the 19th and early 20th centuries. The land was acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 1960s for the creation of Moraine State Park, which opened in 1970 and centers on the 3,225-acre artificial Lake Arthur. Several family farms and small communities were inundated by the reservoir; remaining structures were demolished, but a number of small family cemeteries — including Snyder Cemetery — were preserved as historic features within the park.
The cemetery is reached by a short footpath from Burton Road, near the park's northern boundary. The author Cody B. Magill catalogued the abandoned cemeteries of Moraine State Park in his book Lost Cemeteries of Moraine State Park, which provides historical context for Snyder Cemetery and several others, including the Davis, Brown, and Boyd family plots.
Sources
The most-circulated piece of Snyder Cemetery lore is the report of glowing red eyes visible near the older headstones at twilight. Western Pennsylvania folklore attributes the eyes to the ghost of Conrad Snyder, who is said to remain on his land to drive away those who would disturb his family's rest.
The Pennsylvania Rambler blog has documented additional reported phenomena: floating orbs visible at the perimeter, a heavy ground fog that settles in the cemetery clearing under conditions not matching the surrounding forest, and disembodied voices heard in the nearby woods. These accounts are individual witness reports rather than the products of formal investigation.
The cemetery's small size, isolation within the park, and proximity to McConnell's Mill State Park's better-known paranormal sites have kept it on regional paranormal-tourism circuits. The surrounding state-park property is publicly accessible during daylight hours; respect for the headstones and adherence to state-park rules are expected.
Notable Entities
Walk a short distance from Burton Road through second-growth forest to a small Swiss-settler-era cemetery on land once owned by Conrad and Nancy Snyder, who arrived from Switzerland in the 1770s. Several other 18th- and 19th-century cemeteries dot Moraine State Park, remnants of settler farms inundated by Lake Arthur or absorbed by the state park.
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