Advent Cemetery

The Advent Cemetery along Moose Run Road in Boggs Township has served as the burying place for generations of local families and church members, beginning with Sarah Resides who  died on March 15, 1849.  It is an active cemetery,  operated by the non-profit board of the Advent Cemetery Association, and still has cemetery plots available for sale. 

The original land for the church building, donated by Andrew Gregg, was held by Joseph Eckley, until it was formally conveyed to “Messiah’s Church of Marsh Creek on Feb. 26, 1870 when it legally incorporated. The property was described as “Containing One Acre and thirty perches neat measure having therin erected  a church and having upon it a burying ground, the said premises being the same as were appointed by Andrew Gregg for the purpose of building a church and providing for a burial place….” In 1898, the heirs of Edward D. Johnson conveyed 80 perches along the eastern boundary as an addition to the Messiah’s Church graveyard. Additional land for the cemetery was provided by the Watson family from their adjacent farmland along the southern boundary.  In 1948 the 3.31 existing acres of the graveyard were conveyed to the newly formed Advent Cemetery Association and the  land surrounding the church was deeded to God’s Missionary Church. 

While the cemetery’s graves were placed in a north/south orientation, there appears to have been no overall plan in the layout of the early section of the cemetery  Most of the early markers are small, white marble stones, intermixed with some field stones, a few obelisks, and later granite stones.  Most of the stones face west.  Many of the Advent Church’s founders and early members are interred here, as well as many Civil War soldiers and military veterans. A special Memorial Day program at the cemetery honors their service to our country.

Many of the burial records are available on line at Find A Grave and through the Centre County PAGenWeb Project.

Send written inquiries to:

Advent Cemetery Association
Attn: Paul Deering
PO Box 130 Milesburg, PA 16853
814-355-1998