Take US Business Route 322 (South Atherton Street) east to Boalsburg (approximately 4 miles), turn left and travel on PA Route 45 (approximately 7.5 miles) to Old Fort. Remain on Route 45 past Old Fort, to the west edge of Millheim. (Millheim is approximately 10.6 miles from Old Fort) Fairview Cemetery is on the right, at the point of entry into the town of Millheim.

Fairview Cemetery may, from outward appearances, seem to be a public cemetery; it is however a church-related one. The cemetery was an outgrowth of a purchase of land by St John's Lutheran Church in Millheim.

The congregation itself was organized on 28 April 1877 and had its first council meeting in October of the same year. From that point on the development of the church was rather dynamic. On 30 December 1877 the members celebrated the first worship service. By 1881 the gift of a plot of land for construction of a building was accepted and construction began, with the chapel being dedicated in December of 1882 and the main structure in February of 1884.

May of 1885 saw the purchase of 7 acres,132 perches from H.C. Frankenberger by the church for use as a cemetery. A portion of the land (4.1acres) was resold to private individuals. Around 1896 the plot was developed into what is now Fairview Cemetery. Several years later a portion of this land would once again become part of the Fairview cemetery property, as part of the purchase of the five acres from the estate of William and Mary Musser in 1934. History did repeat itself as only a portion of the land became part of the cemetery. Today Fairview Cemetery encompasses over five acres and is by far the largest cemetery in Penn Township.

Three hundred feet west of the cemetery is a plot of five acres donated by William N Duck in 1968. In 1997 the front portion of this plot was mowed with a stone driveway and a sign" Fairview West Cemetery".



Sources:

1. " St John's Millheim Celebrates Centennial" Centre Daily Times, 10 November 1977

2. Millheim Bicentennial Magazine. Millheim Bicentennial Historical Committee 1988

3. The Cemeteries of Penn Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania printed in 1997 and published by the Centre County Genealogical Society page 5