Harmony Methodist Church and Cemetery

Harmony's nearest town owes its name to a committee. Pickton began as a station when the East Line and Red River Railroad was built in 1879, the same year Harmony organized. A committee chose Pick Town and the railroad shortened it to Pickton. M. D. Jackson had settled there about 1856, and a post office opened in 1881 with William Richardson as postmaster. The Handbook of Texas credits fertile sandy soil and spring water for the town's growth, and its school enrolled 153 pupils in 1905.

What the plaque says

Harmony Methodist Church and Cemetery Local landowner Jesse Odom persuaded an itinerant preacher to hold a revival for settlers in this area in 1877 and again in 1878. A congregation was organized and in 1879 a sanctuary was erected here on one acre of land donated by Mr. Odom. The Rev. S. W. Jones served as first pastor. A cemetery also was established that year on an adjacent tract of land donated by Henry P. Barron. The 1880 interment of Mr. Barron is the earliest recorded burial here. According to local tradition it was the aura of goodwill and harmony during the construction of the sanctuary that was expressed in the naming of the church and cemetery. In 1891 Jim and Henrietta Atkins (the parents of seven children under the age of 4 buried here between 1882 and 1898) donated an acre of land to the cemetery. In 1912 the Rev. W. B. Martin deeded land to the church. Will C. Hill donated an acre to the cemetery in 1914 and in 1916 the congregation replaced its original church building with a new sanctuary. The congregation erected its last sanctuary here in 1951. The church was dissolved in 1963 and in 1968 the Harmony Church building and land were sold to the Harmony Cemetery Foundation. The foundation continues to maintain the cemetery. (1993)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cooper Lake State Park — 30 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Pine Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Cemetery — 4.2 mi
• Black Oak Baptist Church — 5.4 mi
• James Selen Stout — 7.8 mi
• Forest Academy Cemetery — 10 mi