Forest Lawn Cemetery - Dexter

Forest Lawn Cemetery was part of a parcel owned by Samuel Dexter, who came to Michigan in 1824 from New York State. He purchased 926 acres of land that was incorporated as the Village of Dexter. For years, Mr. Dexter offered cemetery plots free to anyone. To this day the cemetery includes a potter’s field.

In 1826, when Washtenaw County was organized apart from Wayne County, Dexter was appointed judge. He and his second wife are buried here, as is the Civil War hero Colonel Harrison Jeffords. Also buried here are Nathaniel and Sylvester Noble, the first settlers of Dexter Township, as well as the Newkirk and Copland families, and Calvin Fillmore, brother of U.S. President Millard Fillmore.