Farr's Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I have it, from the official marker out in Newton County, this is the story of Farr's Chapel Cemetery. Now, before you go thinkin' a cemetery is a quiet subject, let me tell you, some places hold more history per square foot than a whole library shelf, and this old graveyard is one of them. Here's what we know.

Tucked in the yard of a Methodist church, one that Alfred Farr founded way back in 1868, this cemetery holds more than a hundred and fifty tombstones. Some of those stones were placed as far back as the 1850s and 1860s. So when that church was brand new, the ground around it already had stories in it.

The very first grave belongs to Mollie Westbrook. Her resting place is marked by a simple rock, and here's the thing about that rock: it bears no date. Not a number, not a year, nothing.

Just a stone that says, in its own quiet way, somebody was here first. The land itself has a history of giving. In 1873, Joshua and Matilda Westbrook gave the land for the cemetery.

Nearly two decades later, in 1892, William and Mary Westbrook gave more. War veterans are buried here. County officials are buried here.

Early preachers, including the Reverend R. M. Stewart and B.

Z. Powell, found their final rest in this ground. And the whole place is kept in what's called the scraped style, where all the grass is removed from the graves.

No soft lawn, no creeping vines. Just clean, bare earth honoring the people beneath it. There's something deliberate about that.

Something that says we see you, we remember you, and we're not about to let the ground forget either.

What the marker says

Located in the yard of a Methodist church founded in 1868 by Alfred Farr, this cemetery contains more than 150 tombstones placed since the 1850s and 1860s. The first grave, that of Mollie Westbrook, is marked by a rock that bears no date. Land for the cemetery was given in 1873 by Joshua and Matilda Westbrook and in 1892 by William and Mary Westbrook. War veterans, county officials, and early preachers, including the Rev. R. M. Stewart and B. Z. Powell, are buried here. The graveyard is maintained in the "scraped" style, in which all grass is removed from the graves.