New Haven Cemetery

Texas Escapes retells Clarksville attorney Jack O. Herrington's account of how Dimple got its name: store owner W. W. Crockett wrote his infant daughter's name on the post office application, and it was accepted. The post office ran from 1901 to 1921. The cemetery's own paper trail is older. George M. Sargeant deeded 2.75 acres on May 6, 1859, "situated on the waters of Pecan Bayou," for a church, school and cemetery, and the oldest marked burial, George W. R. Rolston, died that year.

What the plaque says

New Haven Cemetery Acreage for a community church, school, and graveyard was given in 1859 by George M. Sargeant. The first burial in the cemetery was for George W. Rolston (d. 1859), a veteran of the War of 1812. Additional land for the New Haven Baptist Church and Cemetery was donated by John and Lillie (Doak) Jamison in 1898. Numerous pioneer families and war veterans are buried here, as is Dimple Dee, the infant daughter of W. W. and Katie Crockett, for whom the Dimple community is named. The historic cemetery continues to serve residents of the area. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lennox Woods Preserve — 3.0 mi
  A Nature Conservancy preserve of mature East Texas forest north of Clarksville, kept by the Lennox family for four generations, with a 1.5-mile loop under post oaks more than 300 years old.
• Wheelock Academy Historic Site — 20 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's academy for girls, rebuilt in 1884 near Millerton and a boarding school until 1955, with its museum in the old teachers' dormitory.
• Fort Towson Historic Site — 24 mi
  The 1824 Red River post where arriving Choctaw and Chickasaw families were dispersed after removal, beside the site of Doaksville, the Choctaw capital where Stand Watie surrendered in 1865.
• Eiffel Tower — 26 mi
  A 65-foot Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat, built by the local welders' union in 1993 beside Paris's Love Civic Center.

More markers nearby

• Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church — 6.0 mi
• The Northern Standard — 7.2 mi
• A House of the William Becknell Family — 7.3 mi
• The Rev. William Stevenson — 7.3 mi