Buck Foster Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out about twelve miles west of Huntsville, in the eastern part of the Loma Community, there's a piece of ground that's been holding the stories of southwestern Walker County for a long, long time. They call it Buck Foster Cemetery.

Some folks call it Foster Cemetery. Some call it Loma Cemetery. But whatever name you use, the ground itself has been taking in neighbors since before it even had an official name.

Now that's a thing worth sittin' with for a moment. Before any deed was signed, before any acre was set aside, people were already burying their dead here. You can still see the evidence, if you know where to look: eroded sandstone markers, worn smooth by time, standing quiet in the northwest section of the cemetery.

The land had already made a promise to the community before the paperwork caught up. The paperwork came in 1882, when William Harrison Foster, known to everybody as Buck, born in 1835 and gone from this world in 1908, sold one hundred acres to a man named W. L.

Sandel. Buck wasn't turning loose of everything, though. He reserved one acre.

One acre for a cemetery. And with that, the place had its name and its legal standing. From that point on, Buck Foster Cemetery served the nearby rural communities of Loma, Gladstone, and New Hope.

Hundreds of burials. Hundreds of lives folded into that one acre and the ground around it. Among all those markers, one story pulls you in before the others.

The earliest marked grave belongs to a woman named Nancy. Nancy Gibson, who became Nancy McCulloch, who became Nancy Heath. Born in 1817, died in 1875.

She was one-half Choctaw and one-half German, and she came to Texas from Illinois in 1845, arriving with her husband Samuel David McCulloch and two children. Texas was young and so was the Loma country, and this family planted themselves in it. County history records that David died in 1848 and was buried here.

But exactly where, nobody can say anymore. That location, the marker tells us plainly, is lost to time. Nancy didn't stop living.

She married her neighbor, William Heath, born in 1821, died in 1882, and together they had seven sons. Seven. The oldest marked tombstone in the entire cemetery belongs to her son William McCulloch, Nancy and David's boy, born in 1846 and died in 1870.

He predated his own mother in the grave, and now many of Nancy's descendants rest here alongside him in that same Walker County soil. Walk through the rest of the grounds and the variety of lives becomes something you can almost read like a book. Gravestone materials run from sandstone to concrete, granite, marble, and steel.

The symbols carved into them reach just as wide: Masonic emblems, Eastern Star symbols, religious images, and then the personal ones, ranching, farming, sports, music. A person's whole life sometimes compressed into one carved image on a stone. And scattered among them, military veterans dating all the way back to the Civil War.

The marker calls this cemetery a testament to the pioneering men and women of southwestern Walker County, and out here on the road, I'd say that's exactly right. Some testaments are written in courthouses, some in church records. This one is written in sandstone and granite and marble, twelve miles west of Huntsville, in ground that was already sacred before anyone thought to make it official.

What the marker says

Buck Foster Cemetery, also known as Foster or Loma Cemetery, is located about twelve miles west of Huntsville in the eastern part of the Loma Community. The cemetery was officially created when William Harrison "Buck" Foster (1835-1908) sold 100 acres of land in 1882 to W.L. Sandel reserving one acre for a cemetery. However, prior to the sale, this land was used as a burial ground for people in the surrounding community as evidenced by the eroded sandstone markers in the northwest section of the cemetery. With hundreds of burials, the Buck Foster Cemetery served nearby rural communities of Loma, Gladstone and New Hope. One of the earliest marked graves is that of Nancy (Gibson) McCulloch Heath (1817-1875), one-half Choctaw and one-half German. Nancy came to Texas from Illinois in 1845 with her husband, Samuel David McCulloch, and two children. According to county history, David died in 1848 and was buried here, but the exact location is lost to time. Nancy married her neighbor, William Heath (1821-1882) and they had seven sons. The oldest marked tombstone in Buck Foster Cemetery marks the grave of William McCulloch (1846-1870), Nancy and David's son. Many of Nancy's descendants are buried here. Gravestone materials include sandstone, concrete, granite, marble and steel, and are adorned with a variety of symbols such as masonic and eastern star symbols, religious symbols, and images of ranching, farming, sports and music. Many military veterans dating from the Civil War are buried here. This historic cemetery is a testament to the pioneering men and women in southwestern Walker County.