Concord Baptist Church and Cemetery

The community around this church was first called Fitzgerald, for the families who bought land on Mound Prairie Creek in the 1840s, and its post office used that name from 1888 to 1905. Concord, the name it carries now, came afterward from the church. A cemetery listing records a 1985 survey that counted 372 marked and 75 unmarked graves, and a 2002 survey that found 481 graves with many sites still unidentified. Many original markers, including iron ore rocks, have been lost or can no longer be read. Later arrivals included the Gaines, Hathcock and Harding families.

What the plaque says

Concord Baptist Church and Cemetery Three families named Fitzgerald moved to Texas in the 1840s and purchased land at Mound Prairie Creek, eleven miles north of Palestine. The area in which they settled became known as Fitzgerald. As other families moved to the area, interest grew in organizing a church. Fifteen charter members met at the Fitzgerald schoolhouse in 1871 and formed a Baptist church. It is believed they named it Concord for a community in Louisiana, the former home of some members of the church. By 1883 the congregation was holding services in its own church building. A wooden frame sanctuary was erected at this site in 1901-02 that served the congregation until 1940 when it was destroyed by fire. A brick structure was begun in 1940. The cemetery and church were located on land previously owned by pioneers William A. and Michael R. Fitzgerald. The oldest marked grave is that of Joel Kelley in 1872, although it is believed the site was in use before that time. Among those buried here are early settlers and their families and three Confederate Civil War veterans. The site continues to serve the Concord community and is maintained by a cemetery association. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 13 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 22 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.

More markers nearby

• Old Montalba — 3.7 mi
• Anderson Campground — 4.8 mi
• Mound Prairie Cemetery — 7.0 mi
• First Gravesite of Cynthia Ann Parker — 10 mi