DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friend, this one earns every word it gets. Out in Rusk County, there's a piece of ground that has seen more than its share of both ordinary life and unimaginable grief. Pleasant Hill Cemetery sits on land donated in 1845 by Captain Robert W.
Smith — born in 1814, gone by 1851 — a veteran of the Texas Revolution. He gave this ground, and the community put it to use, first as the burying place for members of Pleasant Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The earliest marked grave belongs to DeWitt Smith, who died in 1850.
One name, one year, one quiet beginning to what would become a long record of the community's dead. And then there is March 18, 1937. Four miles to the northwest sat the school at New London.
On that day, an explosion destroyed it. Two hundred and ninety-three students and teachers were killed. Two hundred and ninety-three.
Let that number settle a moment, because it deserves the silence. One hundred and twelve of those victims were brought here, to Pleasant Hill Cemetery. One hundred and twelve of the two hundred and ninety-three.
Children and their teachers, laid into ground that a captain of the Revolution had offered up for exactly this kind of keeping — though no one could have imagined it would ever come to this. Every July, the community still gathers here. Homecoming activities, a memorial service, dinner on the grounds.
They come back, year after year, to remember all of it — the ordinary dead and the ones taken on that March morning in 1937. Some ground just holds more than it was ever asked to hold. This is that kind of ground.
What the marker says
Located on land donated in 1845 by Captain Robert W. Smith (1814-1851), a veteran of the Texas Revolution, this cemetery first served the members of Pleasant Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The earliest marked grave is that of DeWitt Smith, who died in 1850. Also buried here are 112 victims of the March 18, 1937, explosion which destroyed the school at New London (4 mi. NW) and killed 293 students and teachers. Annual Pleasant Hill homecoming activities, including a memorial service and dinner on the grounds, are conducted here each July.