Sandergrove, South Australia, Australia

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Sandergrove Methodist Church and cemetery near Strathalbyn. It opened

in 1867. It is now falling down. Almost all graves are for members of

the Tucker family who built the grand two storey house nearby called

Lakeview in 1857.

In 1849 a local farmer, William Rogers subdivided seven town blocks

which he called Sandergrove. His mother was Elizabeth Sanders hence the

name. A Post Office opened in Sandergrove in 1851 and one town block was

reserved for a school. It opened in 1859 and operated until 1952. The

main building in town was the Wesleyan Methodist Church which opened in

1867. It has been closed for many years but a few graves remain in the

attached cemetery (mainly named Billing or Tucker.) Sandergrove’s main

claim to fame was the rail junction about 2 kms from the town which is

the start of the spur line to Milang which opened in 1883. Until the

line closed a daily train did the 22 minute trip to Milang after meeting

the train to or from Adelaide. Until the 1930s this train was met by a

steamer at Milang that then carried passengers across Lakes Alexandrina

and Albert to Meningie and the Coorong.