Carlisle Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can carry the tale. Out here in Trinity County, there's a piece of ground that has gone by more than one name, and the dead beneath it have watched every change. This is the story of Carlisle Cemetery.

The settlement that grew up around this place didn't start out called Carlisle. First it was the Vaughns Mill community. Then it went by Bold Springs.

Then, finally, Carlisle. Three names for one stretch of Texas earth, and the cemetery outlasted every one of those changes. Now, the man you want to know about is Moses Bond.

He came here with his family in the 1870s, and when this community needed a place to lay its people to rest, Moses Bond donated the property. That's the ground you're standing near right now, or riding past, depending on where the road finds you. The oldest marked grave belongs to a man named William Cooper.

A Civil War veteran. He died in 1867. Think about that for a moment.

The war was barely over, the settlement was still finding its footing, and William Cooper was already the first soul committed to this ground with a marker to prove it. Others followed. Area pioneers.

Community leaders. And two of the original cemetery trustees, a man named W.E. Clark and a woman named Charity Hall.

Those two names carry some weight. Original trustees, the very people who first took responsibility for keeping this place. The cemetery itself has character you can see.

Grave slabs. Vertical stones. A false crypt.

Curbing. Each one a different way people in this community chose to honor their dead. The land didn't stop growin, either.

John and Alice Chessher deeded additional land to the cemetery in 1941. Then acreage was added again in 1990. A burial ground that keeps making room says something about a community that keeps going.

And going it is. The Carlisle Cemetery Association, organized in 1980, tends this place today. They're the ones keeping the grass cut, the stones standing, the memory intact.

From Vaughns Mill to Bold Springs to Carlisle, the names changed. Moses Bond, William Cooper, W.E. Clark, Charity Hall, the Chesshers.

The names on the stones did not. That's what a cemetery is for.

What the marker says

This cemetery originally served residents of the Vaughns Mill community (later Bold Springs and then Carlisle). The settlement was named for Moses Bond, who donated property for this burial ground after coming here with family in the 1870s. The oldest marked grave here is of Civil War veteran William Cooper (d. 1867). Others interred here include area pioneers, community leaders, and two original cemetery trustees, W.E. Clark and Charity Hall. The cemetery features grave slabs, vertical stones, A false crypt and curbing. John and Alice Chessher deeded additional land in 1941 and acreage was again added in 1990. Today, the Carlisle Cemetery Association, organized in 1980, cares for this historic burial ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2008