History
Ann Arbor's city parks sit on the ancestral and traditional homelands of several indigenous Native peoples. Read a
land acknowledgement from the city and learn more about the early history of the land
here.
The Terhune Memorial contains the gravestones of John Terhune, Sarah Vreeland Terhune, and Emily Whitmore. The stones were moved to this location from the cemetery at the corner of Packard and Burton Roads by the Daughters of the American Revolution in the 1920s after the original burial site had fallen into disrepair. At that time the remains were irreclaimable and no attempt was made to move them.
Ensign John Terhune volunteered in the Continental Army in 1776 at age 17. He served under General George Washington during the difficult New Jersey campaign including the successful surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton. At the age of 15, Sarah Vreeland walked under cover of night nine miles from her father's farm to Newark to warn the American Patriots of the formidable presence of British and Hessian troops gathered near Hackensack. In delivering her message she met Terhune, then a private, who was on duty in General Washington's Camp at the time. They were later married and moved to Michigan Territory in 1831.
Read a winter 2015 article by the Ypsilanti Historical Society about Terhune Pioneer Memorial Park
