Mt. Zion Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Out here in Washington County, there's five acres of ground that's been holding memory longer than most folks care to reckon with. This is Mt.

Zion Cemetery, and the land it sits on goes back to 1831, when Robert Clokey received a league of land as part of Stephen F. Austin's Second Colony. That's the foundation of the whole story, right there.

Old ground. Earned ground. The kind of ground that accumulates meaning whether you're watching or not.

The first grave recorded here belongs to an infant, E. A. Metcalfe, who died on September 15, 1852.

A child. That's how this place began. Not with a grand ceremony or a dedication speech, but with a family's grief on a September afternoon.

And after that first grave, others followed, as they always do. Some of the unmarked graves scattered across these five acres may trace back to 1867, when a yellow fever epidemic struck this area. May date from it, the marker is careful to say.

No one can be certain now, and that uncertainty carries its own kind of weight. The name Mt. Zion most likely came from the Mt.

Zion Baptist Church, which stood on this very ground from 1857 to 1882. A congregation gathering, praying, singing, and then gone, but the name stayed. In 1881, the owner at the time, J.

R. Hines, deeded the site to cemetery trustees. One year before that church's recorded departure, someone made sure this ground would be protected.

Today, 132 marked graves rest here, representing 55 families. The Burton Heritage Society maintains the property now, keeping watch over all of it, the marked and the unmarked alike. Five acres.

A league of land. One infant's name. And somewhere in between, the long, quiet accumulation of a community.

What the marker says

This 5-acre cemetery is located on the league of land granted to Robert Clokey, of Stephen F. Austin's Second Colony, in 1831. First grave here was that of an infant, E. A. Metcalfe, who died Sept. 15, 1852. Some unmarked graves may date from a yellow fever epidemic that struck this area in 1867. The cemetery was probably named for the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, located here from 1857 to 1882. Deeded to cemetery trustees in 1881 by owner J. R. Hines, the site contains 132 marked graves, which represent 55 families. The Burton Heritage Society now maintains the property. (1975)