Myrtle Springs Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll carry it the rest of the way. Out here in Cherokee County, there's a piece of ground that's outlasted the town it was born to serve. That's the story of Myrtle Springs Cemetery, and it's worth stopping for.

The cemetery got its start in the 1860s, when the town of Lone Star was a going concern and scattered settlements dotted the surrounding land. Families were putting down roots on homesteads nearby, gathering at a union church that would serve those same families clear up into the 1920s. The land itself was deeded to the Myrtle Springs Church by a man the marker calls an area pioneer, Thomas Garrison.

His name is in the deed, and his name is on this story. Walk among the graves today and you'll find markers hand-cut from sandstone, some worn so far past reading that only initials remain, or nothing at all. But the earlier marked grave belongs to Martha C.

Wallace, born in 1852 and laid to rest here in 1866. She was among the first to be remembered by name in this ground. And she was not alone in ways that carry weight.

At least fifteen veterans of the Civil War are interred at Myrtle Springs. At least fifteen. The marker is careful to say more are believed to rest in unmarked graves, their service known only to the earth that holds them.

Now, the town of Lone Star, the community that gave this cemetery its first purpose, eventually faded. Became a ghost town. But the cemetery didn't fade with it.

In October of 1950, an additional tract of land was added to the original cemetery plot, because the need was still there. In 1963, a group of area citizens came together and formed a cemetery association to care for the burial ground. Four years later, in 1967, the state of Texas granted that association a perpetual care charter.

Perpetual. That's a word with some gravity to it. The community being served by Myrtle Springs had grown to include the town of Ponta, and the farms and homesteads spread across that rural stretch of Cherokee County.

The town of Lone Star is a ghost. The cemetery endures. Some places carry their history in their name on a sign.

This one carries it in the ground itself, in sandstone markers too worn to read, in the graves of fifteen soldiers and more, in a deed from a pioneer named Garrison, and in the quiet fact that people are still tending it.

What the marker says

Begun during the 1860s, this cemetery served as a burial ground for citizens of the town of Lone Star as well as other scattered settlements in the area. Many homesteads were located nearby, and a union church was attended by many families until the 1920s. The cemetery is located on land deeded to the Myrtle Springs Church by area pioneer Thomas Garrison. Though several hand-cut sandstone markers are illegible or contain only initials, the earlier marked grave is that of Martha C. Wallace, born in 1852, and buried here in 1866. At least fifteen veterans of the Civil War are interred here, and more are believed to rest in unmarked graves. In October 1950, an additional tract for land was added to the original cemetery plot. In 1963 a group of area citizens formed a cemetery association for the care of the burial ground. The state of Texas granted a perpetual care charter ot the association in 1967. Although the settlement of Lone Star became a ghost town, the cemetery has served a widespread rural community, including the town of Ponta and area farms and homesteads. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986