Soon after South Union was founded in 1807, a six-acre cemetery was established there. It eventually held the graves of nearly five hundred Shakers who died between 1810 and 1921. After the village closed in 1922, the property's new owner removed the limestone grave markers, ground them, and scattered the lime over his fields. Not until 2009, when an archaeological investigation determined the original boundaries, was the cemetery finally protected and those buried there memorialized once more.