Old Plum Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker's the source, and here's how I tell it. Now, most cemeteries come with a church already attached — a steeple, a congregation, a deed all neat and tidy. Old Plum Grove Cemetery, out in Fayette County, didn't start that way.

It started with a family, and a loss, and a patch of ground that a man named John Y. Criswell chose for his wife Eleanor. That's where this story begins.

A grave before there was a church. A burial ground before there was a community to fill it. The Criswell family had come to Texas as part of Stephen F.

Austin's Third Colony, arrived by 1830, pioneers in the truest sense of that word. And somewhere in the years that followed, Eleanor Criswell was laid to rest right here on this site. The earliest grave in this cemetery dates to 1835 — and you can feel the weight of that number if you let it settle.

Eighteen thirty-five. Texas wasn't even a republic yet. Now, four years later, in 1839, the Plum Grove Baptist Church formed — one of the earliest Baptist churches in the entire state of Texas.

That congregation would grow tied to this burial ground, and the connection between the living and the dead here would deepen over time. Then in 1851, a man named John Click made it official. He deeded land for the church and the cemetery to the congregation.

Land with a name on the deed, land with a purpose. But nothing stays still forever. Church participation declined through the 1860s, and by the end of that decade, the congregation had moved its place of worship somewhere else.

You might think that would be the end of the story out here. You'd be wrong. The nearby community of West Point started growin', and the living started burying their dead right back in this same ground.

The cemetery carried on. Among those resting here are military veterans — men who fought in conflicts reaching all the way back to the Texas Revolution. Now, this is the part of the story that asks something of the listener.

This cemetery had two sections. One where white community members were interred, and one for African American burials. Two sections, one piece of ground, one shared history that doesn't let you look away.

Today, those sections are recognized as one cemetery — a single site that stands as a monument to the history of the communities that grew up around it. Started with one woman named Eleanor, buried by a pioneer husband on the Texas frontier. And here it still stands.

What the marker says

Old Plum Grove Cemetery began as a family burial ground. Texas pioneer John Y. Criswell buried his wife, Eleanor, on this site. The Criswell family was part of Stephen F. Austin’s Third Colony, which arrived in Texas by 1830. In 1839, the Plum Grove Baptist Church, which would become linked to the cemetery, formed. This was one of the earliest Baptist churches in the state of Texas. In 1851, John Click deeded land for the church and cemetery to the congregation. Church participation declined in the 1860s, and by the end of the decade, the congregation moved its place of worship. Soon, though, the nearby community of West Point started to grow and began using the burial ground. The earliest grave here dates to 1835. Other graves include those of military veterans involved in conflicts dating to the Texas Revolution. The cemetery had two sections – one where whites were interred and the other for African American burials. Today, as one cemetery, the site serves as a monument to the history of the surrounding communities. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006