Silver Valley Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Coleman County, there's a piece of ground called Silver Valley Cemetery, and like most places that matter, it didn't start out the way it ended up. The first known grave belongs to Helen A.

Averitt, born a Crocker, and the marker tells us she and her husband, John C. Averitt, were both early spiritual leaders and educators in this part of Texas. Helen was buried here in 1881.

Now here's the thing. That burial came a full twenty years before anyone officially purchased the land or designated it a cemetery. Twenty years.

She was here first, before the paperwork, before the name was even settled. The place was originally called Robinson's Peak Cemetery, and under that name it received the early settlers of this country and their families, one by one, year by year. Then came veterans, from every branch of the United States military, laid to rest in that same ground.

And alongside them, the families of Mexican railroad workers who came through in the early twentieth century. Different lives, different stories, same earth. In 1958, an association organized to take care of the place, and that association is still at it.

The cemetery is still in use today, still receiving the people of Silver Valley, still holding every one it ever has. You start with one woman buried on undesignated land in 1881, and more than a century later the ground is still doing what she started. That's Silver Valley Cemetery.

What the marker says

Silver Valley Cemetery The first known grave here is that of Helen A. (Crocker) Averitt, who, like her husband, John C. Averitt, was an early area spiritual leader and educator. Her burial in 1881 predated the purchase and designation of the land as a cemetery by 20 years. Originally called Robinson's Peak Cemetery, the burial ground contains the graves of other early settlers and their families. Veterans from every branch of the U.S. military were laid to rest here, as were the families of Mexican railroad workers in the early 20th century. An association organized in 1958 maintains the cemetery, which is still in use and remains a link to the history of Silver Valley. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002