Rehoboth Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll take it from there. The Rehoboth Cemetery sits on two and a half acres out in Tarrant County, and if you want to know where it begins, really begins, you go back to 1871 and a single burial. An infant, Mary Miller.

That's the first grave. That's where more than five hundred stories start. There's something about that, isn't there: a place that would grow to hold hundreds of souls, opening its ground for the smallest one first.

You let that settle a moment before you go any further. Now, the cemetery served a community called Sublett, named after a man named John Sublett. Sublett was the kind of place that had what it needed; a school, a post office, a church.

The schoolhouse was just one room, and it pulled double duty, also serving as home to the Rehoboth Baptist Church. That little building once stood right next to the cemetery itself, close enough that on a Sunday morning the congregation and the buried were practically neighbors. The schoolhouse is gone now, but the ground it stood beside is still here, still doing its work.

More than five hundred graves occupy that two and a half acres, though time has had its way with many of the headstones: worn down, faded, the names and dates gone soft and illegible. Pioneer settlers are among those buried here, and their descendants after them, generation laid beside generation. In 1970, the Rehoboth Cemetery Association was formed to maintain the site, and they've kept at it ever since.

So what you have is this: a place that started with one small burial in 1871, grew to hold a community's entire history, and still, still, serves the area today. Some places just endure. Rehoboth is one of them.

What the marker says

The Rehoboth Cemetery began in 1871 with the burial of infant Mary Miller. The cemetery served the community of Sublett, named after John Sublett. The town consisted of a school, post office and church. The one-room schoolhouse, also used by the Rehoboth Baptist Church, once stood next to the cemetery. The 2.5 acre site contains more than 500 graves, although many of the headstones are illegible. Among those buried here are pioneer settlers and their descendants. Formed in 1970, the Rehoboth Cemetery Association maintains the site, which continues to serve the area. (1997)