TALLMADGE, Ohio – The Knights of Columbus and city officials will honor more than 900 Summit County residents buried in unmarked graves in a local potters field during an event Saturday morning.

What You Need To Know

  • The event will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4 in the potters field in the Tallmadge Meadows area of Summit Metro Parks

  • Tallmadge Knights of Columbus will bring a color guard and bag piper to honor those buried there

  • The ceremony is expected to include remarks from Tallmadge Mayor David Kline and Fire Chief Michael Passarelli

  • Knight of Columbus members will hang a temporary wreath in the cemetery
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The potters field is located just off the trail in Summit Metro Parks’ Tallmadge Meadows Area on Route 91.

The ceremony, starintg at 11 a.m., is expected to include remarks from Tallmadge Mayor David Kline and Fire Chief Michael Passarelli, and feature a color guard and a bag piper, said Cris Drugan, Knights of Columbus recorder.

Knight of Columbus members will hang a temporary wreath in the cemetery to honor the dead, Drugan said.

“With the Our Lady of Victory council located right here in Tallmadge, we have a special closeness to honoring these individuals who, through no fault of their own, are often forgotten,” Grand Knight Greg Tomei said in a release. “In some small way, our prayers and recognition of these folks keeps their memories alive. It’s an honor that our council can be part of this event.”

The potters field was once situated next to the Summit County Home, a sprawling nursing home built in 1919 to replace the Summit County Infirmary in West Akron.

The infirmary was closed after being investigated for abuse of residents, according to Beacon Journal reports.

The new home housed indigent and elderly residents from its grand opening in 1919 to 1970, according to records kept by the Tallmadge Historical Society. The facility stood empty for a decade before being torn down.

According to local historians, a fire in 1981 in a millhouse on the grounds burned down. With that fire, the records of all those buried in the potters field went up in flames.

The records are available in the Special Collections Division of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, but can’t be matched to the graves, because the porcelain markers were removed decades ago.

A monument honoring the dead erected by the county in 1988 still stands, but is now next to the parking lot of an assisted-living facility built on the old nursing home site.

The entrance to the potters field was relocated to the park, and is now separated from the cemetery by woods.

The Knights of Columbus will consider hosting fundraisers to move the monument back to the cemetery entrance, Drugan said.

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