Olive Chapel is a typical church yard cemetery, well kept, in a beautiful scenic area in Section 19 of Indiana Township. It is well fenced and an ornamental arch and new gate were added in 1959. It is well platted with the stones in rows and with evidence of few unmarked graves.

The following history of the cemetery was written by John Maddy, a great great grandson of John Mathew, who gave the land for the original burying plot.

"In the year 1868 the site of the present cemetery was but a grove of trees. In 1870 John's great great grandmother, Mrs. John (Lucinda) Mathew, died , and as her husband owned the land, he buried her in one corner of the grove. One day as John's grandfather, John T. Maddy, was passing he noticed Mr. Mathew working hard trying to clear the ground around his wife's grave. He had previously given a half acre of ground for a cemetery. Mr. Maddy asked if he wanted help to clear up around the grave, and Mr. Mathew readily acknowledged that it would be appreciated. Most of the men of the neighborhood joined together to chop down trees and clear the brush, and it was not long until they had a much better looking cemetery. Soon a woman by the name of Haines died and was buried there. Her family did not have sufficient money to buy a tombstone, so one of her sons set out an evergreen tree at the head of her grave. It was a living monument for many years. The cemetery had no name until 1889 when the church was built and it was then given the name of the church, Olive Chapel."

Olive Chapel is located south of Attica. Go on paved road G76 for 5.6 miles, south on gravel road for .5 mile, and east for .2 mile and there is the beautiful little country church with the cemetery in the background. It can also be reached from Knoxville by going south from the Junction of Highways 5, 14, and 92 on Highway 14 for 8.8 miles, east on G76 for 2.5 miles, south for .5 mile, and east .2 mile." (Cemeteries of Marion County, Iowa" published by the Marion County Genealogical Society, 1974)