New Bethlehem Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about New Bethlehem Cemetery, out there in Montgomery County. Now, every community has a place where it keeps its memory. For Cut and Shoot, Texas, that place is New Bethlehem Cemetery, and the story of how it got to be what it is today is worth your time on this road.

This burial ground has been serving area residents since the early twentieth century. By that time, families had been settling near the crossroads of Conroe-Cleveland and Willis-Waukegan roads, and the community they organized would later be named Cut and Shoot. In 1912, a woman named Annie Amelia Peel, the widow of Thomas J.

Peel, allowed residents to construct a building on her property. They called it the community school and meeting house. She later conveyed that property, for the building and for a cemetery both, to New Hope Baptist Church.

Now here is where the story takes a quiet, patient turn. That cemetery, which would later be associated with New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, sat largely unused for years. Not because people didn't need it.

But because it had no fence, and without a fence, animals had free run of the grounds. So when folks lost their loved ones, they carried them to other cemeteries nearby instead. The land waited.

Then came the 1930s, and the floodwaters came with them. Area flooding began blocking the roads to those other grave sites, and residents turned to the cemetery that had been there all along. The first individual buried here was Evalyn A.

Davis Kelley, who died in 1934. Several others were also interred that same year. And not long after, residents erected a fence to enclose the grounds.

Sometimes it takes a hard circumstance to bring a community home to what was theirs all along. From that point, the cemetery grew. It grew in size and in meaning, until it held hundreds of burials and stood as the main graveyard for Cut and Shoot residents.

Community leaders. Veterans of military conflicts. Area pioneers.

They're all out there. In the year 2000, a cemetery association organized to maintain the grounds, keeping faith with everyone who came before. Today, New Bethlehem Cemetery still serves the living, and still stands as a testament to the men and women who founded the Cut and Shoot community.

Some places earn their meaning slowly, one year at a time, one fence post at a time. This is one of those places.

What the marker says

This burial ground has served area residents since the early 20th century. By that time, many families had moved near the Conroe-Cleveland and Willis-Waukegan crossroads; the community they organized would later be named Cut and Shoot. In 1912, Annie Amelia Peel, the widow of Thomas J. Peel, allowed residents to construct a building, called the community school and meeting house, on her property. She later conveyed property for the building and for a cemetery to New Hope Baptist Church. The burial ground, which was later associated with New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, was not used at first because it lacked a fence to keep animals out; residents used other nearby cemeteries instead. By the 1930s, community members began to use this cemetery because area flooding blocked roads to other grave sites. The first individual buried here was Evalyn A. Davis Kelley (d. 1934); several others were also interred that year. Residents soon erected a fence to enclose the cemetery. Since that time, the cemetery has grown in size, and with hundreds of burials, has functioned as the main graveyard for Cut and Shoot residents. Among those interred here are community leaders, veterans of military conflicts and area pioneers. In 2000, a cemetery association organized to maintain the grounds. Today, New Bethlehem Cemetery continues to serve the area, while also remaining as a testament to the men and women who founded the cut and shoot community. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2007