Carlton Cemetery

Carlton lived off the road before it lived off the rails. The Handbook says it was settled in 1877 on the east-west stage and freight route, with a school and churches by 1878. The Honey Creek post office moved from the Malone gin in 1879 and took the name of Dr. Carlton. When the Stephenville North and South Texas Railway arrived in 1907, the town gained a bank and, by 1910, 750 people. Its newspapers were the Courier from 1907 to 1909 and the Citizen from 1910 to 1936. The school closed in 1969.

What the plaque says

Carlton Cemetery Carlton Cemetery is commemorative of the growth and decline of a fading community as agriculture and railroads changed the destiny of small Texas towns. Local lore places the first grave at this site in 1867 when J. E. Pinkerton, a farmer, was killed by a band of Indians. After hitting solid rock, area settlers moved 200 feet to the north, where they established Pinkerton's grave with a 16-inch high solid native stone bearing only his initials on a chiseled shield. The village of Carlton was organized in 1876 and named for Dr. F. M. Carlton, who was buried here in 1897. James Monroe McCarty rests in the first dated grave, inscribed January 21, 1872. Of 1,278 graves counted in 1997, 213 are unmarked. Of these, 22 anonymous graves date from the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. Also buried here is Deputy Sheriff Audie Gibson, killed by bandits in 1932. Carlton natives have faithfully maintained the cemetery in honor of their relatives, friends, and the many local veterans who served their country. The Carlton Cemetery Association was formed in 1957. L. W. Fine, cemetery overseer, was the last person to be buried by his neighbors in 1957. Burial services have since been assumed by funeral homes. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dublin Bottling Works — 15 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.
• Hamilton County Courthouse — 15 mi
  A limestone courthouse of 1886-87 on the Hamilton square, built after the county's 1878 courthouse burned, enlarged in the early 1930s and rededicated in 2012 after restoration.
• Dinosaur Valley State Park — 31 mi
  Theropod and sauropod trackways of about 113 million years ago in the bed of the Paluxy River, a National Natural Landmark where R. T. Bird found the first distinct sauropod tracks in 1937.

More markers nearby

• Olin Baptist Church — 5.1 mi
• Pecan Cemetery — 6.7 mi
• Hamilton County, C.S.A. — 8.1 mi
• Lamkin — 8.4 mi