DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my tellin' of what the official marker has to say about Bold Springs Cemetery, out in McLennan County. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a man and a piece of land that had already seen plenty of living before he ever showed up. Isaac Butler Cauble — folks called him Doc — was born in 1820, and in 1850 he built a cabin near one of several flowing springs in what is now northeastern McLennan County.
Those springs hadn't just caught Doc Cauble's eye. They'd been home to generations of Native Americans long before a single settler drove a nail into a single plank of Texas timber. Now, here's a detail the marker offers quietly, almost in passing, but it deserves a moment of stillness.
Cauble's young son, James, made a friend out there near those springs — a Comanche boy. And that Comanche boy died. He was buried on the very hill that now holds this cemetery.
So before the first settler was ever laid to rest here, this ground was already sacred to someone. Other families followed Doc Cauble in. The Boulds, the Closners, the Bennetts, the Hurlocks, the Wests — Carey Boulds, Jacob Closner, Walter Bennett, William Hurlock, and Thomas West.
The community that grew up around those springs went by two names for a spell: Bould Springs, after the Boulds family, or Bennett Springs, after the Bennetts. Eventually it settled into Bold Springs, the name it carries to this day. Carey Boulds opened his cabin up for the Bould Springs Post Office — which tells you something about frontier practicality.
That same cabin became a gathering place for the whole community and a stop where stagecoaches could pull in and change horses. Roads fanned out from Bold Springs like spokes on a wheel: one linking Waco to Hillsboro, one running to a lumber mill on Aquilla Creek, another reaching a family grain mill on the Brazos River. County commissioners made it official.
Bold Springs was connected. And it wasn't just a crossroads. In 1858, Bold Springs Missionary Baptist Church was founded — the first church in all of northeastern McLennan County.
By the time the 1860 census was taken, the population stood at three hundred and eleven people, making Bold Springs the second largest town in the entire county. Second largest. Out here, near some springs, where a man named Doc Cauble had built a cabin just ten years before.
Then came 1881. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad came through, and with it, a new town called West rose up on that line. Settlement shifted.
The way it always does when the railroad decides where tomorrow is going to be. Bold Springs didn't vanish all at once, but the momentum moved on down the track. What remained — what remains — is this cemetery on the hill.
The oldest known grave belongs to Mary W. Baze, born July 28, 1828, and gone by June 19, 1861. She rests near the center, as do the other oldest graves, in keeping with the traditional layout — graves oriented east-west, elders at the heart of it.
Around them, over time, came pioneers of Bold Springs, members of fraternal organizations, early business and civic leaders of the town of West, and veterans of conflicts stretching from the Civil War all the way to the present. More than two thousand four hundred souls are interred here. Their markers are cut from granite, marble, metal, limestone, and sandstone.
Oak trees shade them. Crepe myrtles, irises, and bluebonnets grow among the stones. The Bold Springs Cemetery Association formed in 1892, and it is still caring for this place.
Still tending it. A thriving community becomes a quiet hill, and the people who remember keep showing up to make sure it isn't forgotten. That Comanche boy was the first.
More than two thousand four hundred have followed. The springs are still out there somewhere beneath all of it, still flowing.
What the marker says
ISAAC BUTLER “DOC” CAUBLE (1820-1904) BUILT A CABIN IN 1850 NEAR ONE OF SEVERAL FLOWING SPRINGS THAT WAS HOME TO GENERATIONS OF NATIVE AMERICANS. CAUBLE’S YOUNG SON, JAMES, WAS A FRIEND TO A COMANCHE BOY WHO DIED AND WAS BURIED ON THE HILL NOW HOLDING THIS CEMETERY. OTHER EARLY SETTLERS INCLUDED THE FAMILIES OF CAREY BOULDS, JACOB CLOSNER, WALTER BENNETT, WILLIAM HURLOCK, AND THOMAS WEST. THE SPRING AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITY WAS KNOWN AS “BOULD SPRINGS” OR “BENNETT SPRINGS.” THE BOULD SPRINGS POST OFFICE OPENED IN BOULDS’ CABIN, WHICH SERVED AS A COMMUNITY GATHERING PLACE AND A PLACE FOR STAGECOACHES TO STOP AND CHANGE HORSES. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ESTABLISHED ROADS THROUGH BOLD SPRINGS LINKING WACO TO HILLSBORO, FROM HERE TO A LUMBER MILL ON AQUILLA CREEK AND ALSO TO A FAMILY GRAIN MILL ON THE BRAZOS RIVER. BOLD SPRINGS MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, FOUNDED IN 1858, WAS THE FIRST CHURCH IN NORTHEASTERN McLENNAN COUNTY. THE POPULATION NUMBERED 311 IN THE 1860 CENSUS, MAKING BOLD SPRINGS THE SECOND LARGEST TOWN IN THE COUNTY. IN 1881, SETTLEMENT SHIFTED TO THE NEW TOWN OF WEST, ESTABLISHED ON THE MISSOURI-KANSAS-TEXAS RAILROAD. THE OLDEST KNOWN GRAVE MARKS MARY W. BAZE (JUL. 28, 1828 – JUN. 19, 1861). THE GENERAL LANDSCAPE IS TRADITIONAL, WITH GRAVES ORIENTED EAST-WEST AND THE OLDEST GRAVES IN THE CENTER SECTIONS. HERE ARE PIONEERS OF BOLD SPRINGS, MEMBERS OF FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND EARLY BUSINESS AND CIVIC LEADERS OF WEST. VETERANS OF CONFLICTS FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO PRESENT ARE AMONG THE MORE THAN 2,400 INTERRED. GRAVE MARKERS ARE OF GRANITE, MARBLE, METAL, LIMESTONE AND SANDSTONE. VEGETATION INCLUDES OAK TREES, CREPE MYRTLES, IRISES AND BLUEBONNETS. THE BOLD SPRINGS CEMETERY ASSOCIATION FORMED IN 1892 AND CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THIS HISTORIC REMINDER OF THE ONCE THRIVING BOLD SPRINGS COMMUNITY.