Woodvale Cemetery was established in the mid-1800s in Middleburgh Township, Ohio. The oldest marked grave holds Fred G. Klink (1833-1858), whose family donated a half acre of land for burials. In 1786, Frank M. Stearns (1832-1911) suggested the unnamed cemetery be called Woodvale, after the wooded vale beside it. In 1908, a fire destroyed the caretaker's house and many cemetery records. Woodvale became a non-profit union cemetery in 1931, owned by Berea and the Village of Middleburg Heights and covering 33 acres at 7535 Engle Road. Pioneer families buried here: Fowles, Draft, Lovejoy, Sprague, and Stearns. Also buried here: John Baldwin (1788-1884) founder of Baldwin University and James Wallace (1878-1933) founder of German Wallace College (merged in 1913 to become Baldwin Wallace College).
Other notable burials here include William Engle (1814-1897), a
constable, township trustee and school director who built the
township's first log house in 1848; Veterans of every U.S. war and
some conflicts including Second Lt. Albert E. Baesel (1890-1918), a
WWI soldier from the 148th Infantry Division who received the
Congressional Medal of Honor; Children from Berea's "Home for
Children," as far back as 1890. Graves were dug by hand by caretakers, including one-armed Fred Beavis (1907-1989),
until equipment
was used in 1955. In 2010, Woodvale covered 50 acres, bordered
by Cleveland Metroparks, Big Creek Pkwy., Fowles and Engle Roads.
A Board of Trustees of both cities governs the Cemetery.
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