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significance of this pioneer -burial site, it is the staff's <br />recommendation that this site be designated by ordinance as a <br />County Historic Landmark. Landmark status would be one way to <br />ensure protection of this valuable piece of local heritage. <br />In recent years cemetery studies have assumed significant <br />proportions in that these sites represent highly organized <br />cultural landscapes. Within the field of social science, cemetery <br />research occupies two broad categories. The first is the analysis <br />of architectural styles of tombstones and gravemarkers over a <br />period of time --of interest to folklorists, historians and <br />archaeologists. The second is the geographic analysis of <br />cemeteries as a reflection of local land use patterns. Similar <br />approaches to cemetery studies involve viewing them as cultural <br />landscapes incorporating both spatial and architectural <br />elements.[3] <br />The recognition of cemeteries as a significant type of built <br />environment has been of special interest to social and cultural <br />historians. According to them, not only do cemeteries provide a <br />document of the most durable artifacts of death but also a record <br />of death customs. Above all, they have been appropriately <br />described as "planned places of beauty where the dead and the <br />living might mingle in restful reflection."[4] <br />Thus the preservation and maintenance of cemeteries is <br />significant to the historian, the archaeologist, the folklorist, <br />the sociologist and the cultural geographer as well as to those <br />who have ancestors buried in them. Cemeteries serve both a <br />functional and an emotional purpose. Functionally, they provide a <br />place for the disposal of corpses. On the emotional plane, they <br />are a place where the living can "communicate" with their dead <br />relatives; in this sense they are meaningful as both sacred and <br />secular symbols. In addition, the cemetery as a landscape shares <br />spiritual and mystical traits as a positive expression of a range <br />of religious beliefs.[5] <br />In many parts of the United States, maintenance of cemeteries <br />therefore has been part of the "urban beautification process."[6] <br />The preservation of Ullery cemetery would fulfill a similar <br />function -- that of beautifying the existing landscape, in <br />addition to recognizing and respecting local heritage. <br />Historical Development <br />What is unique and most historically significant in the history <br />of the Ullery Cemetery is its original association with the group <br />of emigrants frequently referred to as the Pennsylvania Dutch. <br />-Most of the families who formed the core of the group here <br />followed a similar migration pattern, moving from Pennsylvania to <br />Ohio and then settling in Clay Township. They shared similar <br />3 <br />