DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm just here to pass it along the way Duane does. Now, if you were drivin' through Henderson County back in the 1850s, you might've crossed paths with a family making their way in from North Carolina — Eber Meredith, his wife Caroline, who was born a Ross, and their four children. They settled into this corner of East Texas and got to work the way settlers do.
Eber wasn't a man who moved slow when it came to land. In 1859, he bought 320 acres. Four years later, he came back and picked up another 160.
That's nearly half a thousand acres of East Texas ground, and he clearly intended to stay. The community grew up around the Merediths the way communities do — quietly at first, then all at once. In 1875, a schoolhouse went up near the Meredith home.
The very next year, 1876, a Methodist church was organized right there under a brush arbor close by that schoolhouse. Now, a brush arbor is about as humble a house of worship as you can build — just cut branches laid across a frame for shade — but humble beginnings have a way of growing into something remarkable. In 1878, Eber Meredith made it official.
He deeded ten acres of land to the church. That same year, an open-air tabernacle was built, and the first annual camp meeting was held in the summer. People came.
And then more people came. And word spread across East Texas the way good things do, until some years saw crowds of as many as two thousand people making their way to that campground. Two thousand souls, out in Henderson County, gathered under open sky.
But 1876 carried grief alongside that new church. One of the area's early settlers, W. A.
Barber, died on August 16th of that year and was buried at the campground. His was the first grave in what would become a cemetery — one that grew over the years to hold many of the early settlers of that place, including Eber and Caroline Meredith themselves and their descendants. Veterans found their rest there too: men who served in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam.
The ground remembers all of them. The tabernacle standing there today was erected in 1890. It's worth a good long look.
It features a hipped roof with changes in pitch, all capped by a cupola, and drop shutters cover the openings on each side. It's the kind of structure built to let the breeze through and the light in, which is about right for a place where two thousand people once came to gather. Eber Meredith bought 320 acres in 1859.
He couldn't have known he was laying the groundwork for a cemetery, a church, a tabernacle, and a camp meeting that would echo across East Texas for generations. But that's how it went — one family, one deed, one deeded ten acres, and a whole community took root.
What the marker says
North Carolina native Eber Meredith, his wife Caroline (Ross), and their four children moved to this area of Henderson County in the 1850s. Eber Meredith bought 320 acres of land in 1859 and purchased an additional 160 acres four years later. In 1875 a schoolhouse was built near the Meredith home. A Methodist church was organized under a brush arbor near the schoolhouse in 1876, and in 1878 Eber Meredith officially deeded ten acres of land for the church. An open-air tabernacle was built that same year, and the first annual camp meeting was held in the summer. The church and camp meeting became known throughout East Texas, and in some years attracted crowds of as many as 2,000 people. One of the area's early settlers, W. A. Barber, died on August 16, 1876, and was buried at the campground. His was the first grave in the cemetery, which eventually grew to include the burials of many early settlers, including Eber and Caroline Meredith and their descendants, as well as veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. The present tabernacle was erected in 1890. It features a hipped roof with changes in pitch capped by a cupola. Drop shutters cover openings on each side. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1991