New Hope Cemetery

The graveyard served a community whose school history survives in detail. The first school, taught by Miss Frankie M. Boals, had ten pupils in a three-month term. A $200 box house burned in 1889, a frame building moved in 1900, a 1908 building was paid for by subscription and a $1,000 bond issue, and a $4,000 building replaced it in 1922. A Baptist church went up in 1895 and was replaced by a $5,000 church in 1924, and in 1925 neighboring Spring Creek's school closed under an agreement with Avoca.

What the plaque says

New Hope Cemetery William F. Bean (1872-1944) and his wife Birdie Bean (1881-1917) were among the first settlers to the New Hope community; both their families arrived in 1883. William's great-uncle, Amos Bean, died between 1883 and 1890 and was interred under a tree on Bean farmland. The newborn son of W. L and Georgia Whitaker was interred nearby in 1890. Three more infants and children were buried on Bean farmland in 1891, 1898 and 1899. William Bean deeded the land 3/4 mile northwest of his great-uncle's grave for a New Hope community burial ground in 1899. Since that time the cemetery has grown to three acres including the first five graves. Other interred here include J. E. Skiles, longtime minister of the Baptist church; James Williams, who taught school at New Hope; his wife Mary Artealy Williams; and their descendants. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Phantom Hill — 17 mi
  A field of lone stone chimneys north of Abilene, left by the fire after the Army left in 1854, later a stage stop and a buffalo-hide town of more than 500 people.

More markers nearby

• Spring Creek Cemetery — 3.1 mi
• Arledge Field — 4.5 mi
• Texas Cowboy Reunion Oldtimers' Association — 5.1 mi
• "The Poet Ranchman" Larry Chittenden — 5.1 mi