New Hope Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Wood County, there's a piece of ground called New Hope Cemetery, and the story it holds goes back a long, long way. It all begins with the New Hope Baptist Church, which organized in 1864.

Right around that same time, it is believed, the cemetery took root alongside the church, though the earliest grave marker anyone can point to with certainty belongs to a woman named Sarah J. Fouse, dated 1875. That's the earliest stone.

Who else may have been laid to rest before her, well, the ground keeps its own counsel on that. The cemetery had already been in use for many years when, in 1917, a group of area leaders made it official, selling the land to the church for one dollar. One dollar.

Some transactions carry more weight than the numbers suggest, and that one surely did. Now, while this place has always been tied to the New Hope Baptist Church and its community, the doors were never kept narrow. Members of an area Methodist church have traditionally found their rest here too, neighbors in life and in death.

What makes this ground really something to stand on and take in is what the families did with it. At one time, families kept the graves as barrows, mounded dirt without a blade of grass, just the earth shaped over those they loved. And scattered through the cemetery you'll find rock cairns, and a tabernacle, each one a piece of local custom, a way of marking what mattered.

Then came the 1970s, when an association formed to keep watch over the place. And here's the part that'll stay with you: families of those buried here still meet annually to care for the grounds. They're keeping the old traditions alive, every single year.

Walk the rows of this cemetery and you're walking through the full span of a community's life. Confederate veterans are buried here. So is a Union veteran.

Men and women who served in war and in peacetime both. Local educators. Leaders.

And many others whose names are bound up in the story of this corner of Wood County. New Hope Cemetery. One dollar, one church, one community, holding on to their own.

What the marker says

The new Hope Cemetery was long associated with the New Hope Baptist Church, which organized in 1864. It is believed the cemetery began around the same time as the church’s organization, although the earliest grave marker, that of Sarah J. Fouse, dates to 1875. The cemetery had been in use for many years when, in 1917, a group of area leaders sold the land to the church for one dollar. Although primarily associated with members of the New Hope Baptist Church and community, others, including members of an area Methodist church, have traditionally used the burial ground. The history of local residents and their customs is apparent in the cemetery, with features including rock cairns and a tabernacle. At one time during the history of the cemetery, families kept the graves as barrows, mounded dirt without grass. Overseen by an association that formed in the 1970s, families of those buried here still maintain early traditions, meeting annually to care for the grounds. Buried here are Confederate veterans, a Union veteran, and men and women who served during war and peacetime, as wells as local educators, leaders and many others associated with the community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002