Chappell Hill Masonic Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it to you straight. Way out in Washington County, there's a piece of ground that's been holdin' its silence since 1853. That's the year the Chappell Hill Masonic Cemetery opened its gates as a Masonic burial ground, and the very first person laid to rest within it was Jacob Haller, the founder of Chappell Hill himself.

Think about that for a moment. The man who founded the town became the first soul entrusted to that soil. After that, the cemetery kept on receivin'.

Pioneers who crossed hard country to build something from nothing. Soldiers who answered when called. Statesmen who shaped the direction of Texas.

Heroes, the marker calls them, and it doesn't qualify that word. For well over a century, the keeping of that ground fell to Hubert Lodge No. 67, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. They watched over it, tended it, honored it.

Then, in 1965, a cemetery association formed and took up that work. But before that association existed, it was the Lodge, year after year, making sure the founders and the fighters and the statesmen weren't forgotten. Some places carry the weight of what they hold.

The Chappell Hill Masonic Cemetery is one of those places. The names in that ground helped build a state, and the ground itself has been cared for by people who understood exactly what that meant.

What the marker says

Opened as Masonic burial ground, 1853. Jacob Haller, founder of Chappell Hill, was first interment. Final resting place of pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, heroes of Texas. Until formation of cemetery association in 1965, cared for by Hubert Lodge No. 67, A.F.&A.M.