Oak Hill Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out on the rolling land of Washington County, there's a patch of ground that has been holding the stories of Burton, Texas, since before most folks around here were even a thought. Five point eight acres, set aside in 1869, the very year the founders of the town of Burton decided this place needed a proper burial tract.

That's how a town puts down roots, friends. Not just with buildings and commerce, but with a place to lay its people to rest. And one of the first to rest here was Mrs.

John M. Burton herself, wife of the previous owner of this very land, buried here in 1871. Her husband John followed in 1877.

The land that had been theirs became the land that would hold them both. In 1890, civic leaders stepped up, bought the tract, and chartered the Burton Cemetery Association. That was the beginning of something with a little more staying power.

Then in 1900, a Ladies Auxiliary formed, and together with the association, they governed this property for fifty years. Fifty years of tending, of remembering, of keeping the grass and the memory from going to seed. Somewhere along the way, by 1926, the public had taken to calling the place Oak Hill.

Just Oak Hill. Simple, dignified, the way the best names tend to be. Now, things got a little complicated in the middle stretch.

The Burton Cemetery Association stepped back at some point, and an interim group calling itself the Oak Hill Cemetery Association kept things going. But in 1973, the Burton Cemetery Association was revived, took back the reins from that interim group, and got back to the work of caring for this historic site. Some things, it turns out, are worth coming back to.

Five point eight acres, more than a hundred years of tending, and the founders of Burton knew exactly what they were doing when they set this ground apart.

What the marker says

In 1869, founders of the town of Burton designated 5.8 acres at this site for a burial tract. Mrs. John M. Burton, wife of the previous owner of the land, was buried here in 1871; her husband, in 1877. Civic leaders bought the tract in 1890, and chartered the Burton Cemetery Association. With a Ladies Auxiliary formed in 1900, the association governed the property for 50 years. By 1926, the public knew the facility as "Oak Hill". Burton Cemetery Association was revived in 1973, took over from an interim "Oak Hill Cemetery Association," and again cares for this historic site.