AKA:  Johnson Cemetery

Number of Burials (approximate): 10

Dates of Activity: 1860 - 1905

Documentation/Publication: 

CCGS, The Cemeteries of Colebrook, East Keating, Grugan, Leidy, Noyes, and West Keating Townships (2008)

Directions/GPS: 

From the intersection of Jay and Water Streets in Lock Haven (the Lock Haven Courthouse), travel west on Water Street for 1 mile.  Turn right onto PA Route 120 (Susquehanna Avenue) and travel 20.5 miles.  Turn left onto Hyner River Road, crossing the railroad tracks and bearing left to follow the river.  From the turning, travel 5.7 miles down the river.  Bear right on Grugan Township Road, not left onto Rattlesnake.  Travel 0.3 mile.  A driveway splits off to your left, and it leads to the cemetery in the corner of the field at a hunting camp.  Alternatively, the cemetery is on the bank to your left after 0.4 mile on the Grugan Township Road.  From the point that you cross the river on Hyner River Road, the road is gravel, very narrow, and runs along the river only a few feet above the water with a high railroad embankment on the other side.  It is thus narrow with almost no room to turn around for miles at a time, and is prone to flooding at certain times of the year. 

GPS = N41 15.833 W 77 35.564

Landowner / Caretaker:

Whetham Cemetery

Whetham, PA 17738

Condition/Needs: 

Poor; sunken graves need filled and area should be cleared of brush.

History:

The introduction of the railroad opened up the budding timber industry along the Susquehanna River in Grugan Township.  James D. Whetham purchased 6,000 acres on Rattlesnake Run in 1850, with a view toward lumbering.  The community, called Rattlesnake, became known as DeFranceville, with the introduction of a sawmill by John DeFrance, an agent for Whetham and Price.  A coal mine was also opened on the property, and settlement boomed.  By 1875, the community boasted a railroad station, telegraph office and hotel, and at one time a post office was located there.  Residents also cultivated the land on a smaller scale.  A community cemetery sprang up along the road near the railroad tracks.  It was apparently in use from the 1860s through the early 1900s.  After the decline of lumbering, the community dried up and today, nothing exists except hunting cabins along the stretch which once was Whetham.