Salona Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Salona Cemetery has to say, and friend, it's a story worth hearing slow. Out in Montague County, the land that would become the Bethel community started filling up with families in the 1870s. The Ayers, Cherry, Cook, Couch, Hill, Lamb, Oliver, Overstreet, Park, and Richardson families were among the first to put down roots.

Ten families staking their claim on a stretch of Texas that didn't ask easy questions and didn't offer easy answers. By 1881, the Salona School was open and runnin. Then in 1889, a post office came along, and here's where the name gets interesting.

There was already a Bethel post office somewhere else in Texas, so this one took the name Salona instead. Just like that, the whole community followed suit. The place had two churches, a blacksmith, and a medical office.

Not a boomtown, but a real town, the kind built on neighbors who needed each other. Now, that same year, 1889, John H. and Liadora Overstreet sold a parcel of land to Bethel School District Number 53 for a burial ground. School trustees John Brigance, John Young, and Richard Hunt paid twenty dollars for it.

Twenty dollars, and in exchange, the community had a place to lay its people to rest. And when the Thompson School was demolished nearby, the community didn't abandon the souls buried at Thompson's Chapel. Those burials were brought by wagons and reinterred right here at Salona.

Think about that for a moment. Somebody loaded those wagons, made that trip, and said: these folks belong with us. In 1890, Harrell Lilly Cherry, a Civil War veteran, became the first of many veterans to be buried in this ground.

Many more would follow him over the years. Then there's the tradition that really gives this place its heartbeat. Starting in 1897, every May, the citizens of Salona gathered at the cemetery to maintain the graveyard, share a potluck dinner, and enjoy a time of fellowship.

Reverend W. M. McKee would preach and lead the singing.

That same year, 1897, the Salona Cemetery Association formed, with Reverend McKee as chairman and H. C. Knightstep as caretaker.

The school kept going until 1952, when it consolidated with Bowie. The school building served as a community center after that, until it was razed in 2007. The post office had closed back in 1905.

One by one, the usual anchors of a small community let go. But not the cemetery. In 1928, when more space was needed, the W.

C. Richardson family sold their land to increase its size. And to this day, on the first Sunday of May in Montague County, people still gather at Salona Cemetery to observe Decoration Day, honoring the tradition those first citizens started in 1897.

Some things outlast the school, outlast the post office, outlast the buildings. Salona Cemetery is still there, a chronicle of a rural settlement and the final resting place of the generations who made it. That's not nothing.

That's everything.

What the marker says

Settlement of Bethel community began in the 1870s, with the Ayers, Cherry, Cook, Couch, Hill, Lamb, Oliver, Overstreet, Park and Richardson families among the first settlers. The Salona School was open here by 1881. When a post office operated from 1889 to 1905, it also took the name Salona, since there was already a Bethel post office in Texas. The community included two churches, a blacksmith, and a medical office. The school consolidated with Bowie in 1952, and the school building was used as a community center until it was razed in 2007. John H. and Liadora Overstreet sold land to Bethel School District No. 53 for a burial ground in 1889. School trustees John Brigance, John Young, and Richard Hunt paid twenty dollars for the parcel. When the nearby Thompson School was demolished, burials from the cemetery at Thompson's Chapel were brought by wagons and reinterred here. In 1890, Harrell Lilly Cherry, Civil War veteran, became the first of many veterans to be buried here. Each May, starting in 1897, citizens of Salona met to maintain the graveyard and enjoy a time of fellowship with a potluck dinner. Reverend W. M. McKee would preach and lead the singing. Today, the tradition is still observed on the first Sunday of May in Montague County, as rural communities commemorate Decoration Day. The Salona Cemetery Association formed in 1897 with Rev. McKee as chairman and H. C. Knightstep as caretaker. In 1928, when additional acreage was needed, the W. C. Richardson family sold their land to increase the size of the cemetery. Salona Cemetery remains the final resting place of earlier generations and a chronicle of this rural settlement. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010