Shady Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker at Shady Grove Cemetery has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Wood County, there's a piece of open land that's been holding stories since before most of Texas knew what it was going to be. Shady Grove Cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds in the whole county, and it starts, like so many things out here, with a family arrivin' and puttin' down roots.

Around 1845, a man named Reuben Elledge brought his family to this stretch of country. That's early. That is genuinely, remarkably early for Wood County, and Elledge seemed to know it, because he didn't just settle.

He built. He served as a commissioner and as chief justice, which is to say county judge, and by 1850 he was donating land to the community, land for a school, land for a Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The man was planting institutions the way other folks plant corn.

And one acre of that Elledge land, eventually, quietly, became this cemetery. Now, the earliest known gravesite here doesn't belong to a patriarch or a judge or a veteran. It belongs to a boy.

Young Bobby Scoggins, who drowned in 1855. For many years, his resting place had no stone to mark it, only a tree standing watch. You think about that for a moment.

A tree, doing the work a carved stone couldn't or didn't. Reuben Elledge himself is buried here, and so is John Boyd, a three-term county sheriff, and veterans of military conflicts going all the way back to the Civil War. Walk through Shady Grove today and the ground tells you things.

Rock cairns. Decorative fencing. Ornate stone carvings.

Curbed plots. Obelisks. And Woodmen of the World monuments, those distinctive markers you don't see just anywhere.

The Methodist church that started on Elledge's donated land disbanded in 1993, but its chapel didn't go quiet. It's still used for funerals, still used for annual memorial events, still doing the work of gathering people together around the ones who are gone. Some places are just built for that.

Shady Grove Cemetery is one of them.

What the marker says

This open landscape cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds in Wood County, first served pioneer settlers of the Shady Grove community. One of the earliest area settlers was Reuben Elledge, who brought his family here c. 1845. Elledge figured prominently in the development of Wood County as a commissioner and chief justice (county judge). In 1850, he donated land to the community for a school and Methodist Episcopal Church, South. One acre of the Elledge land was later set aside for this cemetery. The earliest known gravesite, unmarked except for a tree for many years, was for young Bobby Scoggins, who drowned in 1855. Also buried here are Elledge, three-term county sheriff John Boyd and veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. Expanded through the years, Shady Grove Cemetery is a reminder of early settlement in the area. Features include rock cairns, decorative fencing, ornate stone carvings, curbed plots, obelisks and Woodmen of the World monuments. The Methodist church disbanded in 1993, and its chapel is now used for funerals and for annual memorial events. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003