DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mount Olivet Cemetery, out on the edge of Fort Worth. Now, most cemeteries just happen. Someone dies, someone picks a spot, and slowly the ground fills in around the fact of it.
But Mount Olivet — this one was dreamed up. Almost 130 acres of dreamed-up ground, and the dreaming started with a man named Flavious G. McPeak.
Flavious and his wife, Johnnie Clara Lester McPeak, came to Fort Worth in 1894, arriving from Tennessee. Both of them born in 1858, they made their way here together, and in 1895 Mrs. McPeak purchased the land where this cemetery now stands.
The following year, 1896, the family built a two-story home right there on that same ground. They had ten children. Ten.
And for a while, that land was simply where the McPeaks lived. But Flavious McPeak had a vision sitting in the back of his mind. He was a respected Fort Worth businessman, and at some point he had visited the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
Something about that place got into him. The design of it. The care of it.
He was so impressed that when he founded this cemetery in 1907 — right there on land his wife had bought twelve years prior — he made sure many of those Nashville features found their way into the Fort Worth version. The family moved to a home on Lake Street, and the old homeplace became something else entirely. The first mausoleum went up by 1909.
But here's the thing — it only ever served as a temporary receiving vault. It was torn down when a new mausoleum was built in 1983. Seventy-four years of temporary.
There's a Texas story in that if you care to look for it. And scattered across those nearly 130 acres, you can still find a variety of free-standing and relief sculpture, the kind of artwork that marks a place meant to be visited, not just passed. Now, the numbers.
Mount Olivet holds over 47,000 burials, making it the first perpetual care cemetery in Tarrant County. The oldest marked grave belongs to Zenas Ewin Kerr, buried April 11, 1907 — the very year the McPeaks opened the gates. But tucked inside those 47,000 are 594 souls who died in the flu epidemic of 1918.
Five hundred and ninety-four. Buried together in the same ground as the McPeaks themselves, as members of their family, as Tarrant County pioneers who helped build the city that surrounds this place. Flavious McPeak, born 1858, died 1933.
Johnnie Clara, born 1858, died 1936. The founders are here too, resting in the cemetery they built — on land she bought, shaped by a vision he carried home from Tennessee. Some legacies you write down.
Some you dig into the earth and tend.
What the marker says
Encompassing almost 130 acres, the Mount Olivet Cemetery was founded in 1907 by Flavious G. McPeak (1858-1933) and his wife, Johnnie Clara Lester McPeak (1858-1936), who arrived in Fort Worth in 1894 from Tennessee. The land on which the cemetery is located was purchased by Mrs. McPeak in 1895, and the family built a two-story home in 1896. The parents of ten children, the McPeaks moved to a home on Lake Street when they founded this cemetery. Flavious McPeak, a respected Fort Worth businessman, had visited the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee, and was so impressed with its design that many of its features were incorporated here. A mausoleum was completed in 1909, but only served as a temporary receiving vault. It was torn down when a new mausoleum was built in 1983. A variety of free-standing and relief sculpture can be seen throughout the grounds. Containing over 47,000 burials, this was the first perpetual care cemetery in the county. The oldest marked grave is that of Zenas Ewin Kerr, buried April 11, 1907. Also interred here are 594 victims of the flu epidemic of 1918, the McPeaks and members of their family, and many Tarrant County pioneers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.