DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Mt. Calvary Cemetery has to say — and it's a story worth slowing down for. Out in northwestern Washington County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding memory a long time.
The burial ground at Mt. Calvary has served this community since the early years of the twentieth century, when a large landowner named J.S. Poteet employed Mexican immigrants as sharecroppers on his land.
Those workers brought their families. Those families built something — a farming community, rooted right there, that came to be known as the Mt. Calvary settlement.
Now, communities are born through labor and held together through hardship. And hardship came early here. In 1917, an influenza outbreak moved through Mt.
Calvary, and it took lives. A number of residents died. It was Poteet himself who stepped forward and donated property so that the victims could be buried — and that is how this ground became a cemetery.
Step inside those fence lines today and you'll find something that tells you exactly who these people were. There are unmarked graves here, including that of the very earliest burial — a name and a story the earth has kept to itself. The oldest marked grave belongs to Angela M.
Orozco, who died in 1918. From her stone forward, the cemetery carries the unmistakable character of its community — predominantly Catholic, deeply Mexican in heritage. Religious iconography ornaments the graves.
And near the center of the cemetery stands a white cross, called La Santa Cruz del Descanso — the holy cross of the last resting place — where many burial ceremonies have been held, generation after generation, at its foot. Cemeteries don't keep themselves. Through the years, several cemetery committees organized to care for this ground — because some things require tending on purpose.
In the early 1970s, on the advice of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, members of one of those committees joined residents of the nearby community of Somerville and raised funds to survey and fence the cemetery. That's neighbors looking out for neighbors, even across time.
Then in 2004, the Mt. Calvary Cemetery Association formed specifically to carry that work forward. Today, Mt.
Calvary Cemetery continues to serve as a testament — the marker uses that word deliberately — a testament to the Mexican immigrants and others who resided and worked in northwestern Washington County. The ground holds their names, their faith, and their culture. Some of those names are marked.
Some aren't. But the white cross stands at the center, and the story isn't finished being told.
What the marker says
This burial ground served residents of the Mt. Calvary community. The Mt. Calvary settlement dates to the early years of the 20th century, when J.S. Poteet, a large landowner, employed a number of Mexican immigrants as sharecroppers. The workers and their families formed the farming community. In 1917, an influenza outbreak led to a number of deaths among Mt. Calvary residents. Poteet donated property so that the victims could be buried. There are a number of unmarked graves here, including that of the earliest burial. The oldest marked grave is of Angela M. Orozco (d. 1918). Cemetery features here reflect the predominantly Catholic Mexican heritage of the interred. Many burial ceremonies have been conducted at the foot of a white cross, called La Santa Cruz del Descanso (the holy cross of the last resting place), which is located near the center of the cemetery. Grave ornamentation, including religious iconography, also reveals the cultural background for many buried here. Through the years, several cemetery committees have organized to care for the burial ground. In the early 1970s, on the advice of the U.S. Army corps of engineers, members of one of these committees joined other residents of the nearby community of Somerville to raise funds to survey and fence the cemetery. In 2004, the Mt. Calvary Cemetery Association formed to maintain the burial ground. Today, Mt. Cavalry cemetery continues to serve as a testament to the Mexican immigrants and others who resided and worked in northwestern Washington county.