Yellowpine Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what happened out in Sabine County. Yellowpine was one of many logging communities that took root in the East Texas pine forests during the early twentieth century. Timber country, through and through.

The kind of place where the trees went up forever and the mills ran hard. Now, on October 2, 1932, a man named J.C. Berryman died.

And when the time came to lay him to rest, local residents went to the Temple Lumber Company and asked permission to inter Berryman on the top of a hill, close to a fire watchtower. The lumber company said yes. So that's where he went, up on that hill, near the tower watching over the trees.

The cemetery took its name from what was there: Tower Hill Cemetery, people called it. That name held until the tower itself was removed. And then, well, the tower was gone, and the name went with it.

By 1935, the lumber company conveyed almost 78,000 acres to the U.S. Government for the establishment of Sabine National Forest. Almost 78,000 acres changing hands in a single transaction.

The cemetery site was excluded from that conveyance, set apart, kept separate from all those thousands of acres that became Sabine National Forest. That was also the year the cemetery was officially recorded. Today the site is managed by an association.

They meet yearly, on the last Sunday in September, during an annual homecoming celebration. Same hill. Same ground where J.C.

Berryman was the first to be buried. Every year, people come back.

What the marker says

Yellowpine was one of many logging communities founded in the East Texas pine forests during the early 20th century. After the death of J.C. Berryman on October 2, 1932, local residents received permission from the Temple Lumber Company to inter Berryman on the top of a hill, close to a fire watchtower. The cemetery was known as Tower Hill Cemetery until the tower’s removal. The cemetery was officially recorded in 1935 when the lumber company conveyed almost 78,000 acres (excluding the cemetery site) to the U.S. Government for the establishment of Sabine National Forest. The site is managed by an association that meets yearly on the last Sunday in September, during an annual homecoming celebration.