Spring Creek Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Spring Creek Cemetery, out in Jones County, Texas. Now, there's a particular kind of place that outlasts everything around it. Towns move, railroads redirect the whole shape of a community, businesses pick up and follow the money down the road.

But a cemetery, well, a cemetery stays put. And that's exactly the story of Spring Creek Cemetery. It started in 1891, two acres of land near Spring Creek, donated by the Methodist church in a little community called Avo.

And before the year was out, that ground was already in use. The first recorded burial was a woman named Elender Cannon, laid to rest there in February of 1891. The Methodists weren't done giving, either.

They deeded two more acres to the cemetery the very next year, in 1892. For a while, life in Avo went on around that cemetery, ordinary and unhurried. Then 1902 arrived, and the railroad came through.

And when a railroad extends into an area, it doesn't ask the town's permission. Businesses began to grow east of Spring Creek, about three miles from where Avo had always been. The town followed.

And when it moved to that new location, it picked up a new name too. Avo became Avoca. The buildings moved.

The people moved. But Spring Creek Cemetery did not move. And that's what makes it something.

Today it stands as one of the only remaining landmarks left from the original townsite of Avo. Everything else went east. This stayed.

Over the years, the ground filled with history. More than a thousand burials now rest there. Among them is Patrick White, a Confederate Civil War veteran, buried in February of 1928.

And he is not alone in his service. Veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam are also buried at Spring Creek. The wars changed, the generations turned over, and the community kept bringing its people back to this same two acres, plus the additions that came over time.

Because that land kept growing. In 1950, the Avoca school system donated additional acreage. Then the Methodist church gave more again in 1971, just as they had in those earliest years.

Some institutions, it seems, remain faithful to a place even as the place itself changes around them. And the care of those grounds. That began in the late 1890s, organized by a man named H.E.

Culwell, who got things going with donations and an annual community workday. That tradition of tending, of showing up, of taking pride in who lies there, it took root early. Spring Creek Cemetery still serves as a burial site for Avoca and the local area towns to this day.

The town that built it moved on. The railroad that caused the move has come and gone in importance. But that cemetery near the creek, it just keeps being exactly what it was always meant to be.

Some things don't need to move to matter.

What the marker says

Located near Spring Creek, this cemetery began in 1891 on two acres of land donated by the Methodist church in the community known as Avo. The first recorded burial was that of Elender Cannon in February 1891. The Methodist church deeded two additional acres to the cemetery in 1892. When the railroad was extended into this area in 1902, businesses began to grow east of Spring Creek about three miles. Avo was renamed Avoca when the town moved to this location., Spring Creek cemetery is one of the only remaining landmarks left from the original townsite. The cemetery contains more than 1,000 burials, including Confederate Civil War veteran Patrick White, who was buried in February 1928. Veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam are also buried here. Additional land was donated in 1950 by the Avoca school system and by the Methodist church in 1971. Maintenance of the cemetery and its grounds began in the late 1890s with donations and an annual community workday organzied by H.E. Culwell. Still a source of pride, the cemetery continues to serve as a burial site for Avoca and local area towns.