DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most cemeteries in Texas will tell you they're one of a kind, but this one can actually back that up. The Greek Orthodox Cemetery in Galveston is the only exclusively Greek Orthodox Church Cemetery in the entire state of Texas.
That's not a boast — that's just the record. The story of this place reaches back further than the cemetery itself. Way back to 1862, an Eastern Orthodox community was already putting down roots in Galveston — Greek, Russian, and Serbian immigrants, arriving on that island and building something out of nothing.
They shared community together as the years passed, these Orthodox Christians of different backgrounds, but by the 1930s the Greek Orthodox residents had grown into their own congregation. They called it the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, and they purchased a Lutheran church at 19th Street and Avenue H — Ball Street — to make it theirs. Then in 1964, they replaced that building with a church built in the Eastern Orthodox interior style, and that church is still in operation today.
Think about that: a community that was already gathering in 1862, still gathering in the same city more than a century and a half later. But let's go back to 1914, because that's when this cemetery was established. The local Hellenic Society purchased the original parcel of land.
And the community didn't stop there — in 1936, the Greek church initiated the purchase of additional land to expand it. They were planners. They were thinking ahead, because they knew this community was going to last.
And they were right. The cemetery holds more than two hundred known burials. The first recorded burial was in 1915, just one year after the ground was consecrated for that purpose.
It remains an active burial ground to this day, managed by the church council of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. When you walk through that entry on Avenue T, you pass through a decorated wrought iron gate adorned with Orthodox crosses, and above you an arch bearing the words — simply, proudly — "Greek Orthodox." Several of the burial markers inside carry inscriptions in the Greek language. This is a place that has held onto who it is.
Greek immigrants played their part in the development of Galveston and the state through a variety of professions and contributions — the marker is clear on that, even if the full accounting of those contributions would take longer than any one drive down a Texas road. What the marker can tell us is that the people buried here were some of the first Greeks in Texas, and the community that tends their graves has never stopped serving the citizens of Galveston and the state through charitable outreach programs and services. So here it is: more than a hundred and sixty years of Orthodox Christian life on that island.
A cemetery over a century old, still receiving the faithful. A wrought iron gate still standing watch on Avenue T. Some stories don't need embellishment.
They just need to be told.
What the marker says
The only exclusively Greek Orthodox Church Cemetery in Texas, the Greek Orthodox Cemetery in Galveston was established in 1914. The local Hellenic Society purchased the original parcel. The cemetery was expanded when the Greek church initiated purchase of additional land in 1936. It is the final resting place for a longstanding community of Orthodox Christians who were some of the first Greeks in Texas. An Eastern Orthodox community has existed in Galveston since 1862, first composed of Greek, Russian, and Serbian immigrants. As years passed the Greek Orthodox residents shared in community but in the 1930s they established their own congregation, the assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. They purchased a Lutheran church at 19th Street and Avenue H (Ball Street). In 1964 they replaced that church with an Eastern Orthodox interior style church which is still in operation today. Greek immigrants played their part in the development of Galveston and the state through a variety of professions and contributions. The cemetery holds more than 200 known burials, with the first recorded burial in 1915. It remains an active burial ground. The cemetery is managed by the church council of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. Several burial markers include Greek language inscriptions. The entry on Avenue T includes a decorated wrought iron gate adorned with Orthodox crosses and an arch with the words “Greek Orthodox.” The Greek Orthodox community has continually met the needs of citizens of Galveston and the state of Texas with charitable outreach programs and services. They have also preserved their legacy and memory of the earliest years by continuing to maintain this cemetery. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2015