Fisher Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm passing it along to you. Several families packed up from Alabama and made their way to Texas in the early 1830s. They were starting fresh, building homes in a stretch of East Texas that would come to be known as Pine Tree.

Now that name suits the place, if you've ever driven through Gregg County and watched those tall pines slide past your windows. But I'm getting ahead of myself. These families put down roots, literal and otherwise, and among them the Castleberry name carried some weight.

Before 1860, a man known as A.T. Castleberry II set aside one and a half acres of his own land for a cemetery. That's a particular kind of thinking, carving out ground not for crops or cattle, but for the ones who wouldn't be around to tend either.

The Castleberry family was also instrumental in establishing the Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and the early members of that congregation found their final rest here, alongside the families themselves. Then came the detail that gave the cemetery its name. A.T.'s granddaughter married a Fisher.

And the Fisher family, once they were in, stayed in, taking on the continuing management of the place across the years. That's how a cemetery earns a new name without losing its memory. Today Fisher Cemetery covers approximately two point seven acres and holds two hundred and fifty graves.

The oldest dated stone goes back to 1860, which puts you right at the edge of a world about to change in ways those first families couldn't have imagined. The marker calls this place a remembrance of the Pine Tree community, and it holds historical and spiritual significance for many residents of Gregg County. Two point seven acres.

Two hundred and fifty graves. Families from Alabama who just wanted to build something that would last. Seems like they managed it.

What the marker says

Several families from Alabama moved to Texas in the early 1830s, building homes in this area and creating the community known as Pine Tree. Sometime before 1860, A.T. Castleberry II designated 1.5 acres of his land for a cemetery. Family as well as early members of the Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which the family was instrumental in establishing, are buried here. The name Fisher Cemetery comes from A.T."s granddaughter marrying a Fisher and that family's continuing management. The cemetery now covers approximately 2.7 acres and contains 250 graves with the oldest dated 1860. Fisher cemetery serves as a remembrance of the pine tree community and holds historical and spiritual significance for many residents of Gregg County. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2016