Oliphint Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Sabine County, there's a quiet piece of ground that holds more history than most people ever stop to consider. And it all starts with one man: Alfred D.

Oliphint. Alfred came to Texas and received land grants here in Sabine County, first in 1839 and again in 1844. Two grants, two roots driven deep into East Texas soil.

He wasn't just a landowner, either. He served as Justice of the Peace and as County Judge, which means folks in Sabine County brought him their disputes, their troubles, their hardest questions, and trusted him to sort things out. That's no small thing in a young, rough-edged county.

Then, in 1879, Alfred Oliphint did something that's echoed through the generations. He deeded five acres of that land to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Five acres, signed over, done.

The church took root there, and right alongside it, so did a cemetery. That cemetery dates to at least 1870, which means people were already being laid to rest on this ground before Alfred ever put pen to deed. Early settlers to the area, the marker tells us.

Men and women who came to this corner of Sabine County and made something of it, or tried to, or simply lived and died trying. And here's the part that'll stay with you: many of them are buried in unmarked graves. No names on stone, no dates carved for posterity.

Just the earth, keeping its own counsel. But they haven't been forgotten entirely. The Oliphint Chapel Memorial Gardens Association tends this place, maintains it, keeps it restored.

The cemetery still serves the community to this day. One man's land grant in 1839, five deeded acres in 1879, and a stretch of ground that has been quietly, faithfully doing its work for more than a century and a half. Sabine County remembers, even when the stones don't.

What the marker says

Alfred D. Oliphint came to Texas and received land grants in 1839 and 1844 in Sabine County. He served as Justice of the Peace and County Judge, and in 1879 deeded five acres of land to the Methodist Episcopal Church. This cemetery, located adjacent to the church, dates to at least 1870. Among those interred here are early settlers to the area, many of whom are buried in unmarked graves. The restored cemetery continues to serve the community and is maintained by the Oliphint Chapel Memorial Gardens Association. (1997)