Eureka Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Eureka Cemetery in Brown County. Now, every good story needs a place to start, and this one starts with a blanket. According to local tradition, the settlers who established the town of Blanket, about two miles east of where we're standing, found a Native American blanket on the banks of a nearby creek around 1870.

They named the town for it. Simple as that. Some towns earn their names through grand battles or famous men.

This one earned its name from something left behind on a creekbank. You have to appreciate the honesty in that. Now, just down the road from that town, the community needed a place to lay its dead to rest, and that's where Eureka Cemetery comes in.

The earliest marked grave here belongs to Luperda Cox, who died in 1876. That name, Luperda Cox, is the oldest name this cemetery offers up to us, and there's something quiet and important about that. She was here first, at least as far as the markers are concerned.

From there, the ground filled in slowly, generation by generation, with many of the area's earliest settlers and their descendants. Among them, several teachers from the former Eureka School, which stood just across the road from this very site. Think about that for a moment.

The people who taught the children of this community are buried within sight of where they taught. That's not a coincidence so much as it is a life. A whole life, lived in one place, in service to one community.

And here's the thing about Eureka Cemetery that separates it from a lot of the old graveyards you pass on a Texas road trip. It's still active. Still serving the area.

The story isn't finished. It just keeps going, one name at a time.

What the marker says

According to local tradition the settlers who established the town of Blanket (2 miles east) about 1870 named it for a Native American blanket they found on the banks of a nearby creek. The earliest marked grave in this cemetery, which served the rural community of Blanket, is that of Luperda Cox who died in 1876. The cemetery contains many of the area's earliest settlers and their descendants, including several teachers of the former Eureka School which was located just across the road from this site. The cemetery remains active and continues to serve the area. (1995)