Beginning in 1847, people from Ash and Berlin Township were buried in a small cemetery on the property line between the lands of Royal and Mary Ann Potter and John and Margaret Flint. In 1860, the two couples each deeded half an acre to the Swan Creek Cemetery Company. By the last known burial in 1930, more than eighty people had been buried there, including five Masonic Lodge members, six Civil War veterans, early area citizens, and their descendants. Over time the cemetery deteriorated because of neglect and inaccessibility, with gravestones vandalized and plants growing wild, and in 1968 the State of Michigan declared it abandoned. In 1998, descendants of those buried there formed the Friends of Potter Cemetery and began restoration work, including repairing grave markers, removing trees and stumps, and installing a fence. Because the cemetery was landlocked, the group initially had to cross private land to reach it, then lost access in 2000 and spent years trying to regain it through negotiations, litigation begun in 2007, and Ash Township's 2010 purchase of land for an access easement that opened that December. Legislative efforts begun in 2008 led to the unanimous passage and signing of Public Act 525 of 2012, which prohibits cemeteries from being landlocked.