Apolonia Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Apolonia Cemetery, out in Grimes County. Pull over if you can, because this one's got layers. The place has two names, and both of them carry weight.

For a long time, folks called it Pine Grove, after the Baptist church that served as the heart of the community. You want to know where people gathered, where they marked their lives, where they buried their dead? Pine Grove Baptist Church was that place.

The burial ground was already in use by the 1860s, and the oldest stone still standing belongs to Mrs. Harriet Hobdy Kelley, dated 1869. But the marker notes something quiet and a little haunting: there may be earlier graves out there, unmarked, their stories gone without a word.

The land itself was donated in 1886 by J. L. and Eveline Mansfield. A gift to the community, and to the long chain of generations that would follow.

Among those resting here: Confederate veterans Richard Butler, Henderson Green, and W. T. Wasson.

Men who carried a war home with them. But then there is W. T.

Wasson's son, Brosig T. Wasson, and his story hits different. Brosig became Grimes County's first fatality of World War I.

Father and son, separated by decades and by wars, lying in the same ground. The church that gave this place its name disbanded in 1929. And when it did, the cemetery was renamed for the area's defunct post office: Apolonia.

A post office that no longer ran the mail, lending its name to a burial ground that wasn't going anywhere. At least one family here has three generations in that soil. Pine Grove, Apolonia, call it what you will.

Some places just hold on.

What the marker says

Known as Pine Grove for the Baptist church that was focus for community in the area, this burial ground was in use in 1860s. Tombstone of Mrs. Harriet Hobdy Kelley is dated 1869, but there may be earlier, unmarked graves. Land donors were (1886) J. L. and Eveline Mansfield. War veterans here: the Confederates Richard Butler, Henderson Green, and W. T. Wasson; also Wasson's son, Brosig T. Wasson, Grimes County's first fatality of World War I. When the church disbanded in 1929, the cemetery was renamed for area's defunct post office. At least one family has 3 generations here. (1974)