Concord Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Way back in the 1870s, settlers put down roots in a place they called the Concord Community, out in Wood County. And one of those early residents, a man named Hubbard Moseley, did something that tends to define a community more than almost anything else.

He donated land. Not just for one purpose, but three. A community burial ground, a school, and Hubbard Chapel Baptist Church.

When a man donates land for the living and the dead both, you know he's thinking long. The oldest marked grave in Concord Cemetery belongs to Velinda Wood, dated July 31, 1875. But here's the thing the marker makes sure to tell you: an unknown number of unmarked, earlier graves are also present.

So the ground was already holding people before anyone thought to put a stone above them. That's a weight worth sitting with for a moment. Over the years, about a thousand settlers from Concord, Hainesville, and surrounding areas have come to rest here, including dozens of military veterans.

A thousand souls, give or take, gathered on land that one man gave over because a community needs a place to say goodbye. And Concord Cemetery has not been left to the silence. Through the years there have been a number of formal caretakers, and alongside them, relatives, residents, and the Concord Cemetery Association have kept this ground.

Generation after generation, tending the final resting place of family and neighbors. That's not upkeep. That's a promise, renewed over and over, by people who understood what Hubbard Moseley understood back at the very beginning.

Some gifts outlast everything.

What the marker says

Settlers established the Concord Community in the 1870s. Early resident Hubbard Moseley donated land for a community burial ground, a school and Hubbard Chapel Baptist Church. The earliest marked grave in Concord Cemetery is for Velinda Wood, dated July 31, 1875. An unknown number of unmarked, earlier graves are also present. About 1,000 settlers of Concord, Hainesville and other areas are buried here, including dozens of military veterans. Through the years there have been a number of formal caretakers, who along with relatives, residents and the Concord Cemetery Association have maintained this final resting place for generations of family and neighbors.