Muse Cemetery

Find a Grave lists this three-acre burial ground as also called Hickory Grove Cemetery, and says a Black burial area lies beside it. The listing notes that few Anderson County cemeteries have Black and white sections side by side. Descendants gather on the first Sunday in May, with a cleanup the day before, a memorial service at the Missionary Baptist Church across the way, and dinner on the grounds under the oak trees. The listing draws on a booklet, The Muse Cemetery, by Mrs. Harmon Watts. It names Jackson Roach as the earliest marked grave in the Black section.

What the plaque says

Muse Cemetery The oldest marked grave in this cemetery is that of Mary E. Gilmore, who died February 6, 1859, at the age of six months. The oldest section of the burial ground is covered with sand, though grass grows on newer sections. A 1969 survey located some 261 unmarked graves, which were then designated with cement markers. The cemetery takes its name from the pioneer Thomas Fletcher Muse family, though records show it was in use prior to the family's settlement in the area following the Civil War. However, there are no indications that any of the Muse family members are buried here. The first section was not officially deeded for use as a cemetery until 1909. Two additional sections were added in 1958 and 1981. Several generations of some area families are represented here. Most of the grave markers are of stone, though there are also some above-ground vault burials. A cemetery association was formed in 1981. To the east of the oldest section is another small cemetery, containing the graves of black citizens of the community. The oldest marked grave in that plot is of Jackson Roach, who died September 1, 1882. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 11 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 16 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.

More markers nearby

• Denson Springs Cemetery — 2.4 mi
• Site of Fastrill — 3.6 mi
• Waneta Community and School — 4.1 mi
• John and Lucinda Nugent Sheridan — 6.3 mi