Elkhart Garden of Memories Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Elkhart Garden of Memories Cemetery in Anderson County. Now settle in, because even a quiet place under the trees has a story worth hearing. Tucked among oak, pine, and crepe myrtles, this cemetery has been receiving Elkhart's own since way back in 1887.

That's when Lewis Hunter became the first soul laid to rest here. The ground was already doing its work, but officially? The cemetery didn't get its footing until 1906, when J.D.

Fuller and his wife Gertrude donated two full acres of land to make it so. That's the kind of gift that outlasts just about everything else a person can give. Walk those grounds today and you're walking past marble, granite, cement, and limestone, each stone marking someone who called this part of Texas home.

And the stories those stones carry reach a long way. Veterans are buried here from the Civil War all the way to Desert Storm, a span of American conflict that covers more history than most folks stop to reckon with. Among them is E.V.

Douthit, a Civil War veteran who came home and made himself useful, serving as Elkhart's postmaster and co-owner of the first store in town. That is a man who kept a community running. Now, someone has to tend all of this, and that job fell to the Elkhart Garden of Memories Cemetery Association, organized in 1962, which cares for this historic place to this day.

The trees grow on, the stones stand watch, and the people of Elkhart keep showing up to make sure neither one is forgotten.

What the marker says

Situated among oak, pine and crepe myrtles, this cemetery is the resting place for descendants of Elkhart settlers. The first burial was that of Lewis Hunter in 1887, although the cemetery was not official until J.D. Fuller and his wife, Gertrude Fuller, donated two acres of land in 1906. A number of veterans from the Civil War to Desert Storm are buried here, including E.V. Douthit, a Civil War veteran, Elkhart postmaster and co-owner of the first store in Elkhart. Gravestone materials include marble, granite, cement and limestone. The Elkhart Garden of Memories Cemetery Association, organized in 1962, cares for this historic cemetery. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2011