Politics & Government

Lake Shore Cemetery Eyed for City Landmark Status

Cemetery, on Lake Road, dates back to early 1800s.

City leaders are taking the first steps in making Lake Shore Cemetery, also know as Avon Lake Cemetery, listed as a historic Avon Lake landmark.

The designation would be appropriate considering the amount of history the location represents.

The cemetery, owned by the city, is the only burial site in the city of Avon Lake and dates back to the early 1820. It is on the north side of Lake Road next to the Avon Lake Boat Club. 

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Councilman John Shondel, the former chairman of the Avon Lake Historic Preservation Commission, said it is believed the cemetery was established in the early 1800’s

“It was established, perhaps as early as 1820, with the earliest recorded burial being of Edmund Towner of Ira, Vermont.” Shondel said.

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Towner drowned off the shores of Lake Erie on June 8, 1922.

Headstones in the cemetery bear the names of founding families, many of whom have streets named after them in the city, such as Duff, Beck, Curtis, Herrmann,  Walker, Jaycox (also Jacox) and Moore.

On October 26, 2005, the cemetery was designated as a landmark by the Lorain County Historical Society. A new designation would mean an additional marker on the site as well as protections.

The cemetery is one of the city’s best known landmarks and includes a stone pergola built by the Avon Lake Kiwanis Club. It is also the location of the annual Memorial Day ceremony that includes a reading of every deceased veteran from Avon Lake. The names of those veterans are also on bricks beneath the pergola.

The Peter Miller House was the first landmark in Avon Lake to receive historic landmark status from the Commission.

The cemetery still has two plots available. The last burial at the cemetery was for Elizabeth G. Tomanek in 1991.

Authorization is still required by council before status as a historic Avon Lake landmark is issued.


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