Sweetwater Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Sweetwater Cemetery. Now, most towns like to begin their history with a founding date, a railroad spike, a mayor's speech. Sweetwater, out in Nolan County, has something quieter than all that.

The oldest marked grave in this public burial ground belongs to an infant. Purl Ray Scott. Died in 1880.

Just a small life, a small stone, and a whole lot of West Texas wind. And here is the part that'll stop you cold: that grave predates the founding of the town of Sweetwater on the Texas and Pacific Railroad by one year. The cemetery was here before the town was.

Think on that. Before the first street was platted, before the railroad crews drove the last spike and the town got its name, someone had already laid a child to rest on this ground and marked the spot. That is how this place begins.

Not with a ribbon cutting. With a burial. Walk through that cemetery today and you'll notice the handcrafted tombstones and the wrought iron fences, work done by hand in a time when nothing came easy out here.

The people resting in that ground are pioneers, immigrants, community leaders, Civil War veterans. They came from different places, different circumstances, and they all ended up here, in the same caliche soil, under the same wide sky. The marker says it plainly: Sweetwater Cemetery is a reminder of the hardships of pioneer life, and an important reflection of the history of this community.

A town can tell you a lot about itself by the way it keeps its cemetery. And Sweetwater's been keepin' this one since before Sweetwater was even Sweetwater.

What the marker says

The oldest marked grave in this public burial ground is that of an infant, Purl Ray Scott, who died in 1880. It predates the founding of the town of Sweetwater of the Texas and Pacific Railroad by one year. Handcrafted tombstones and wrought iron fences are prominent features of the graveyard. Sweetwater Cemetery contains the burial sites of pioneers, immigrants, community leaders, and Civil War veterans. It is a reminder of the hardships of pioneer life and an important reflection of the history of the community. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.