Elm Grove Cemetery

A Van Zandt County history page names the first burial as little Cecil Hyde in 1883, in a plot about 20 by 20 feet cleared by hand because the ground had no fences and was overgrown. Neighbors kept the grounds on workdays until 1895, when the work was let by contract for $49.50 to a man called Uncle Jim Johnson. Memorial services have been held every June and November since June 20, 1900, a tombstone inscription book appeared in 1973, and a cemetery trust was formed in 1974.

What the plaque says

Elm Grove Cemetery Early Elm Grove community leader Anthony Hyde originally donated this property as land for a local school and church in 1881. It was first used as a cemetery in 1883 for the burial of his grandchild. In 1886 Hyde gave an additional five and one-half acres to the cemetery. A cemetery committee formed in 1895 named M. Johnson the first caretaker. In 1900 Elm Grove United Church moved to adjacent land. This cemetery is the burial ground of pioneer settlers and prominent members of the Elm Grove and Roddy communities.(1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Purtis Creek State Park — 6.2 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• 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.
• No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum — 24 mi
  A free museum at Terrell's airport where about 2,200 RAF cadets learned to fly between 1941 and 1945, with logbooks, uniforms, letters and original training aircraft.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 34 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.

More markers nearby

• Capt. Edward Thomas Broughton and the Johnson Guards — 4.9 mi
• Prairieville — 4.9 mi
• Goshen Cemetery — 5.7 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Mabank — 5.8 mi