Driftwood Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. There's a piece of ground down in Hays County, south of a little sanctuary built back in 1884, and it holds more history than you might expect from a quiet churchyard. This is the story of Driftwood Cemetery.

The whole thing traces its origin to that sanctuary, built by the Driftwood Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The congregation acquired two acres from David L. and Mattie Elizabeth Dorrah, put up their house of worship, and before that same year was out, they'd set aside a portion of the churchyard, just south of the building, as a place to lay their dead to rest. Now here's where the story gets a little deeper.

That wasn't the first cemetery in this community. There'd been another one, known as the Old Community Cemetery, established back in the 1870s, about one mile north of this very site. When the new Driftwood Cemetery came along, several of the burials from that old graveyard were removed and reinterred here.

Many of them were early settlers of the area, people whose names and stories had already been folded into the land once, and now were folded in again. Three men helped make the new cemetery possible as trustees of the Driftwood Methodist Church. James Thomas Eckols, Sr., born in 1841 and gone by 1911.

Thomas Martin, born in 1821, died in 1901. And the Reverend John Alexander Garrison, born in 1849 and not departing this world until 1933, a prominent Methodist circuit preacher by the marker's own account. Those three names alone span a remarkable stretch of this community's life.

And the cemetery holds more than church leaders. At least eight veterans of the American Civil War are buried within those grounds. Eight men who lived through that war and came to rest in a small churchyard in Hays County.

The Driftwood Cemetery Association still cares for this place today, and the cemetery continues in use. Some ground, once it starts keepin' stories, just doesn't stop.

What the marker says

This cemetery traces its origin to the building of a sanctuary by the Driftwood Methodist Episcopal church, South, here in 1884. The sanctuary was built on two acres of land acquired by the congregation from David L. and Mattie Elizabeth Dorrah. This cemetery was established on a portion of the churchyard immediately south of the sanctuary later that year. It replaced another cemetery established in the 1870s about one mile north of this site known as the Old Community Cemetery. Several of the burials in the old graveyard, including those of many early settlers of this are, were removed and reinterred in the newly established Driftwood Cemetery. Among the persons buried here are the following trustees of the Driftwood Methodist Church who helped establish the cemetery: James Thomas Eckols, Sr. (1841-1911); Thomas Martin (1821-1901; and the Rev. John Alexander Garrison (1849-1933), a prominent Methodist circuit preacher. The cemetery, which reflects the heritage of this area, contains the grave sites of community and church leaders and at least eight veterans of the American Civil War. The cemetery continues in use and is cared for by the Driftwood Cemetery Association.