Old Glover Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it along to you straight. Way out in Houston County, there's a patch of ground called the Old Glover Cemetery, and it holds a story that reaches back to the very beginning of a community. The Glover Community got its start around 1879, pioneer folks putting down roots in that quiet corner of East Texas.

And as any settlement must, it eventually needed a place to lay its dead to rest. The earliest burial recorded here is one that carries a particular weight. Grady Holcomb, the infant son of Henry and Amanda Holcomb, born and gone in the span of 1895 to 1896.

That little grave came before the land was even formally set aside. Because it was in 1895 that a man named Arch Sloan deeded the ground, not just for a burial place, but for a church and a school as well. One deed, three purposes.

That's pioneer practicality for you. The schoolhouse stood right where the tabernacle stands today, and it served the community until 1915. Generations of children learning their letters on the same ground where their neighbors came to worship and to grieve.

Now, the community itself carried the name of J.W. Glover, who lived from 1831 to 1899, and he is buried here among the many early settlers who called this place home. There's something fitting about that.

The man the community was named for, resting in the community cemetery, surrounded by the very people who built the place alongside him. And here's what sets Old Glover apart from so many of these old pioneer grounds. It is still used.

Still tended. And every year, on the first Sunday of May, people gather here for an annual homecoming. The graves don't go unvisited.

The names don't go unspoken. That's not just history. That's a community that never stopped showing up.

What the marker says

This cemetery originally served pioneer residents of the Glover Community, which began about 1879. The earliest burial was that of Grady Holcomb (1895-96), the infant son of Henry and Amanda Holcomb. Land for the burial ground, a church, and a school was deeded by Arch Sloan in 1895. The schoolhouse, located on the site of the present tabernacle, was used until 1915. Many early settlers are buried here, including J.W. Glover (1831-99), for whom the community was named. Still used, Old Glover Cemetery is the site of an annual homecoming the first Sunday of each May.