Lake Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Freestone County, there's a patch of ground that holds more stories than most folks will ever know. It starts, like so many Texas stories do, with a family and a decision.

Simeon and Nancy Lake, along with their seven children, settled in this area in the mid-1850s. They built a home. They cleared the land.

They started farming. That's three hard sentences that each represent years of work, and don't you forget it. But pioneers have a way of drawing other people toward them, and gradually a whole community built up around that Lake farm.

A small church went up on their property around 1856. Known as Lake Chapel Methodist Church, it opened its doors to other denominations in the area too. A schoolhouse was constructed nearby.

Two acres of land were set aside for a community burial ground. A community, built from scratch, piece by piece. Now here's where the story takes a quiet, heavy turn.

The earliest documented burial in that cemetery is not a veteran, not an elder, not someone who lived a long full life on the Texas frontier. It's the infant daughter of W. L. and Laura Lake Thornton.

Laura was a granddaughter of Simeon and Nancy Lake themselves. That child, five days old, was laid in that ground in 1874. Five days.

The earth those pioneers had cleared and claimed became the first place they had to say goodbye to one of their own. The church and school buildings were later moved from the property. The graveyard grew over the years.

And who rests there now? Members of the Lake family. Other pioneer families.

And veterans, veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Generation after generation, answering a call. Walk through that cemetery and you'll notice something else too.

The grave markers themselves don't all look the same. Different styles, different materials, different eras. The marker notes that this variety reflects the social history of the area, a glimpse into the customs and traditions of the past.

That's a polite and careful way of saying: time passed, things changed, and this ground absorbed all of it. Simeon and Nancy Lake came out here with seven children and a willingness to work. What they left behind is still out there in Freestone County, holding the names of everyone who followed.

What the marker says

Pioneers Simeon and Nancy Lake and their seven children settled in this area in the mid-1850s. They built a home, cleared the land, and began farming. The settlement which gradually built up around the Lake farm became known as Lake Chapel community after a small church was built on their property about 1856. Known as Lake Chapel Methodist Church, it was also used by other denominations in the area. A schoolhouse was also constructed nearby, and two acres of land were set aside for a community burial ground. The earliest documented burial in the cemetery is that of the infant daughter of W. L. and Laura Lake Thornton. A granddaughter of Simeon and Nancy Lake, the child died at the age of five days in 1874. The church and school buildings were later moved from the property, and the graveyard's size was increased over the years. Among those interred here are members of the Lake and other pioneer families, as well as veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The diverse styles of grave markers which can be seen in the cemetery reflect the social history of the area, offering a glimpse into the customs and traditions of the past.