Located 17 miles south of Tecumseh, Oklahoma on State Highway 177; 6 miles west on S.H.  39; one mile south on NS-335; and one mile east on EW-141 (SE¼ of Sec. 19-T6N-R3).

A bronze plaque on a pink granite block resting on the porch of the little white chapel in the center of the cemetery is inscribed: "Wanette Cemetery, organized June 29, 1897.   First Trustees: Joe Boan, Chairman; Frank Gilbert, Secy ; Wesley Lewis; Dave Lucas; C. R. Gierhart. (Note: The Cemetery Chapel is no longer standing; the building was condemned and was torn down and a new chapel was built a few years ago)

Believed to be the largest rural cemetery in southern Pottawatomie County, the total area is about 50 acres, including the newest addition on the far north side.  Fenced and beautifully maintained, the gravel led entrance driveway encircles the chapel and several well-defined paths separate each section.  Inside the chapel is a large canvas map of the cemetery, drawn by Miss Winnie Dawson, long-time teacher and artist of the community.

The immediate area was originally settled in the early 1870's by Potawatomi Indian families from Kansas.   The grave of Allen Trousdale who died Oct 27, 1876,  is recognized as  the earliest burial.  However, the inscription on the tombstone of N.J. Clardy (1875) predates that of Mr. Trousdale.   Other early burials include Francis Bergeron, 1881; Mary Trousdale, 1882;  Lillie Bowles and Isabella Boyer, 1884; M. L. Melott, 1886; William Sims, 1888; Francis Wilmott and Author W. Trousdale, 1889; and Ethel  Higginbotham, 1891.

In 1875, the Clardyville School  (also called the "Stone School-house") was built with Federal funds under the supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for $1,719.00.  A 2-story log building was added and it became a boarding school for the Indians.  By 1883, the floor and roof of the stone building had been used to construct the Wagoza School four miles west, and gradually the stone walls were torn down and used by pioneers on their farms.  The location of the Stone Schoolhouse was just north of the present limits of the cemetery.

Across the road south (in the NE¼ of Sec.  30), the first Wanette Post Office was established March 19, 1894, also housing the old Clardy Trading Post.  In November, 1896, the post office was moved two miles south and one mile west to a site on the Joe Melot allotment, often referred to as "Old Wanette."  When the railroad came in 1903, the post office was again moved, one mile north to its present location.

Prior to 1900, there was for a short time a community church across the road south of the southeast corner of Wanette Cemetery (in the extreme Northeast Corner of Sec. 30).  No known records of this church are now in existence.

The Johnsonville-Shawneetown Road ran by the Stone Schoolhouse the Clardyville Store and Post Office in early days.  In 1872, a double log house was built by Jacob Johnson about 150 yards south of the south gate of the cemetery, and the Wesley Lewis family lived here in 1875.  These pioneer sites have been gone since about 1900. A pure water spring once existed about 200 yards southwest of the southwest corner of the cemetery, the source of water supply for those living in the double log house.  Thus, the Wanette Cemetery was part of the original settlement of the area even though the present town of Wanette is a mile west and a mile south.

Wanette Cemetery was formally dedicated on June 29, 1897, when a plat was filed in the Office of Register of Deeds at Tecumseh, the then county seat.  The original tract, consisting of six acres (767 ft. by 341 ft.) in the Southeast Corner of Section 19, Township 7 North, Range 3 East of the Indian Meridian, was acquired from Mary P. Welch, a Citizen Potawatomi, and was part of her original allotment.