How Two Missing Grave Markers Crossed a River, Vanished for Decades, and Finally Returned Home
In the forests of Shenks Ferry lies a pioneer cemetery few people know exists. Weathered tombstones lean among the leaf litter and mountain vegetation. It is a place that seems to fade a little more every year as the wilds of the River Hills tighten around it like a closing hand. Yet this past summer, the quiet hillside became the setting for an unexpected historical homecoming when two missing headstones were finally returned.
The story of these misplaced Shenks Ferry tombstones begins, improbably, in York County. Antique dealers Stacey and Craig Myers were not hunting for artifacts when they attended an auction near their home in Hellam. But as they loaded their vehicle, Craig noticed something strange on a rockpile: two old tombstones, one broken, the other nearly illegible.
The homeowners said they had found the stones exactly where they lay and knew nothing about their origins. The Myerses understood that headstones should not be bought or sold, so they offered to take responsibility for returning them to their rightful cemetery. That mission proved far more difficult than expected.
The inscriptions were faint, but hours of study revealed two names: Adam Werfel (1771–1826) and Heinrich Eshelman (1802–1829).
A search on Find-a-Grave pointed toward a burial ground called the Benedict Eshleman Graveyard, but no coordinates or address were listed. Online photos confirmed that two stones were missing from the site, yet the cemetery’s location remained a mystery.
The Myerses contacted the River Corner Mennonite Church, then local historians, then cemetery researchers. No one could pinpoint the site.
Everything changed when a decades-old newspaper article surfaced.
Sandy Schenck, a trustee of the Conestoga Area Historical Society, uncovered a 1979 Sunday News feature describing the cemetery as vandalized and overgrown. It mentioned toppled markers, eroded inscriptions, and a pair of missing stones. The article noted that motorcyclists once rode across the surrounding hills each weekend, disturbing graves and damaging headstones. It was the first solid clue suggesting how the Werfel and Eshelman markers had disappeared. Still, the cemetery’s exact location was not included.
The Myerses were then referred to Adam Zurn of Uncharted Lancaster for assistance. Zurn knew where the cemetery stood and provided the necessary property contact. With the mystery finally solved, plans began to take shape to return the lost stones.
On June 22, 2025, a small group gathered at the base of the hill. The two recovered markers, weighing roughly 70 and 40 pounds, were secured to ATVs for the climb into the forest. The ride followed the same rugged terrain that Benedict Eshleman once farmed in the mid-1700s.
At the top, the old cemetery emerged between the oaks and maples. Weathered tombstones leaned at soft angles. Unmarked fieldstones marked other graves whose identities had long vanished. Limestone fragments poked through patches of undergrowth. The hillside was still and quiet.
Two deep holes were dug. The Werfel and Eshelman stones were lowered into place and set upright again. The moment was simple but deeply meaningful. After decades of absence, and after an improbable journey across the Susquehanna River, the markers stood once more among the families they were meant to honor.
For a cemetery once defined by disappearance, this restoration felt like a rare and welcome reversal.
Who Was Benedict Eshleman?
To understand the significance of this burial ground, it helps to know the man whose name it carries.
Benedict Eshleman was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1709. Like many Swiss and German immigrants seeking stability and opportunity, he arrived in Pennsylvania in the 1720s and quickly began building a life on the frontier. On June 5, 1727, at only eighteen, he purchased six hundred acres in what is now Conestoga Township. From this remote tract, he farmed, built homes, raised a large family, and helped shape a landscape long before it became known for wildflowers, the ill-fated dynamite factory, or even its river crossing.
Benedict married Anna Stehman in 1739, and together they had eight children. He was known not only as a farmer but also as a builder, erecting homes in 1759 and 1764, structures that early twentieth-century accounts claimed were still standing more than two hundred years later. In 1743, he donated land and timber for the River Corner Mennonite Meetinghouse, supporting the congregation with both his resources and his skill. Township histories and tax rolls record his success: in 1780, he owned 360 acres, four horses, ten cows, and an estate valued at £11,000 (well over a million dollars today).
Benedict died that same year at seventy. Over the next century, his homestead passed from Eshleman descendants to the Bausman family and later to H. S. Kerbaugh, whose nearby dynamite factory would accidentally explode on June 9, 1906, in the county’s worst industrial accident. The property eventually came into the hands of the Herr family and later the Hawkins family, on whose wooded hilltop the cemetery still rests.
What Remains Today
Twenty-seven marked graves survive in the hillside cemetery, representing members of the Eshleman, Stehman, Lingerfelter, Warfel, and Shenk families. Benedict and Anna are believed to be buried here as well, though their headstones have weathered beyond recognition. Early accounts suggested as many as forty burials in total.
Many inscriptions are in German, reflecting the linguistic heritage of Lancaster’s early settlers. When the Lancaster Gazette began publication in 1752, for example, it printed articles in both English and German.
The cemetery’s stones now soften into the landscape. Some are simple fieldstone markers. Others lean at precarious angles. The place feels less like a graveyard and more like a historical record slowly returning to the earth.
But the 2025 return of the Werfel and Eshelman stones added a hopeful chapter to its history. A cemetery once known mostly for neglect and vandalism now carries a memory of restoration, care, and a determined effort to honor the past.
Did You Know?
The terms graveyard and cemetery are often used interchangeably, but they do not mean the same thing. A graveyard is attached to a church, while a cemetery is a standalone burial site. The word comes from the Greek koimeterion, meaning “resting place.” Although Find-a-Grave lists it as a graveyard, the Eshleman burial ground is technically a cemetery since it is not connected to a church.
Access Note
The Benedict Eshleman Cemetery is located on private property outside of the Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve. The site is not accessible to the public without the property owner’s permission.
Learn More
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Resources
- Find A Grave: Benedict Eshleman Graveyard Memorials
- Historic Sites
- Sunday News August 26, 1979
- Conestoga Area Historical Society newsletter, Summer 2025
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1864 Map of Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, PAPrice range: $24.99 through $25.99
That’s good news. It’s too bad a little pioneer cemetery near where I grew up couldn’t be spared. It was located in Manheim Township along Butter Rd on the hill overlooking the little creek. In the early 60‘s there were at least 2 standing stones, one to Margreta Shreiner; both in German. As the area became a development, the builder broke off both tombstones. What he did with them is unknown. And I wonder if the homeowners ever knew they had a graveyard in their backyard.
Did you ever see the movie Poltergeist? lol
If it was done after 1994, they broke the law. PA has a Historic Burial Act but it was not put in place until then. Some preservationists have pushed for more or stronger legislation, but it’s a hard fight with everything else that’s going on.
The removal of the stones occurred in early to mid 1960s. But another memory I have is seeing a stack
of broken off tombstones next to a shed at the Landis Valley Farm Museum. I was 10 or 11 so I don’t remember much. Maybe builders dropped them off there and the Museum was trying to at least preserve them. I have no idea if the stones are still there somewhere.
Technically the Eshleman is not a cemetery either, as cemetery plots are typically sold or require membership to something such as a fraternal organization. They are run by an owner which may be a non-profit, such as one associated with a church, or a group of people, or corporation. Since this is a gathering of graves of family members, interred on what was once the homestead and remains on private property, this is a family burial ground.
Great article. This is also why folks also need to know that is illegal in PA to move, destroy, alter tombstones, walls etc of historic burial places in PA. A historic burial ground is one over 100 years old, no burials within the last 50 years and no future interments. Our ancestors deserve respect, including preserving where they chose to be buried.
Many thanks to the folks who researched the story of the markers and of the people who once rested beneath them.