St. Rose Cemetery

The story

This historic African American burial ground is associated with two congregations organized in the 1880s. Many buried here were members of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church or Jones Chapel United Methodist Church. Some burials took place prior to the site's official dedication as a cemetery.

The earliest known burial, of former slave Nancy Williams, dates from 1901. Land for a community cemetery for African Americans was officially deeded in 1921. Among the prominent individuals interred here are Mose Lott and Allen Canada, who built the first Beeville schoolhouse for African Americans.

Several veterans of conflicts dating back to World War I are also buried here. The St. Rose Cemetery Association organized in 1970 to care for this sacred site.

Historic Texas Cemetery - 2008