Indian Mound Cemetery

Cemetery in Hampshire County, West Virginia, US

Indian Mound Cemetery is a cemetery located along the Northwestern Turnpike (U. S. Route 50) on a promontory of the "Yellow Banks" overlooking the South Branch Potomac River and Mill Creek Mountain in Romney, West Virginia, United States. The cemetery is centered on a Hopewellian mound, known as the Romney Indian Mound. Indian Mound Cemetery is also the site of Fort Pearsall, the Confederate Memorial, Parsons Bell Tower, and reinterments from Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery. The cemetery is currently owned and maintained by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc.

Days before the 150th anniversary of the Confederate Monument's dedication was to be observed, it was vandalized. The vandalism read "reparations now", and was done using black spray paint. The damage to the monument has since been repaired.

The Romney Indian mound is a burial mound that measures 7 feet (2 m) in height and approximately 15 feet (5 m) in diameter, according to the site marker. Since this marker was erected, further research indicates the mound has been opened at some point in the past. of which several remain as of 2010.

The Romney Indian Mound was constructed at what was once the crossroads of the Shawnee Trail, running north and south, and the east west Indian Road (later the Northwestern Turnpike and U. S. Route 50) leading to the Allegheny Mountains. The original owner of the mound, David Gibson, gave the site to the city of Romney on the condition that the mound would not be disturbed.

Due to its strategic location on a bluff commanding views of the South Branch Potomac River, the Romney Covered Bridge, and the Northwestern Turnpike for half a mile, Indian Mound Cemetery was an important lookout position during the American Civil War. On October 22, 1861, Union Army General Scott ordered General Benjamin Franklin Kelley to concentrate his forces at New Creek (now known as Keyser) and attack and capture Romney.