Eastview Cemetery

Before Eastview existed, Black families who moved to Bay City carried their dead back to rural graveyards, and that pushed some to look for burial land in town. Trustees Ephriam Taylor, Mike Smith and Isaac Wiggins bought a tract from D. P. Moore for $180, surveyed in February 1907, and the deed was recorded in May 1909. It lay beside the white cemetery. In 1945 members chose the name Eastview at a meeting at Mother Zion Baptist Church, and on January 8, 1946 the association bought 5.424 acres from E. E. Weller and his wife for $1,084.80.

What the plaque says

Eastview Cemetery This cemetery traces its origin to 1907, when 1.8 acres of land were purchased from D. P. Moore. The first recorded burial was that of Henry Abram in 1912. Known earlier as "The Burying Ground for Negroes," "Cedarvale Eastside," and "The Old Section," this cemetery is adjacent to the Anglo graveyard Cedarvale Cemetery. Over five acres of land was added to this site in 1945 when purchased from E. E. Weller and his wife Ella May Weller. Although the cemetery contains over 780 graves, it is believed that several unmarked graves exist, possibly in the old section. Buried here are veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Maintained by a cemetery association, many improvements have been made over the years to the grounds. The association had the roads resurfaced, made water accessible to all sections, installed flagpoles, established driveways, and planted several oak trees and numerous plants throughout the site. Closely associated with many of the area's African American churches and community organizations, the Eastview Cemetery continues to serve the vicinity and Matagorda county. (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 19 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 23 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Cedarvale Cemetery — steps away
• Daily Tribune and Matagorda County Tribune — 0.6 mi
• Bethel Baptist Church — 0.8 mi
• Site of Early Bay City School — 1.0 mi