13 Rogers Cemetery
In quite possibly the last place you would expect to find a pioneer burial ground, tiny Rogers Cemetery lies nestled between the bustle of Fee Lane and Foster Quad. This little cemetery was established in 1818, Monroe county’s founding year, with the burial of the infant James Baugh1.
Witnessing the hardships of pioneer life
The story of the cemetery is a sad one, reflective of the hardships of pioneer life. Many of the graves there belong to children, including three Baugh children aged 2, 7, and 14, who died within a week of each other in July of 1829. Members of the Hook and Rogers families are buried there as well, with the last recorded burial taking place in 1879.
Leaving the departed at peace
The Rogers family, for whom the cemetery is named, purchased the land from the Hook family in 1863, but the cemetery was not included in the deed. The Rogers family then sold the land to Indiana University 1n 1914. When the Foster Residence Center was built in 1963, the Rogers family declined to move the cemetery2, and so it remains today, a serene (if not secluded) place of rest in the midst of a lively student population.
