WALNUT GROVE CEMETERY

THE WALNUT GROVE CEMETERY IS LOCATED ON WALNUT GROVE ROAD, OFF FM 1087 ABOUT 6 MILES EAST OF GARRISON. NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, TEXAS. THE FIRST PERSON BURIED HERE WAS JOHN F. CHRISTOPHER BORN DECEMBER 23, 1857 AND DIED JUNE 30, 1858. HE WAS THE EITHER THE SON OR GRANDSON OF OF JOHN Q. A. CHRISTOPHER. JOHN Q.A. CHRISTOPHER OWNED THE LAND. AND DONATED THE FIVE ACRES OF LAND FOR THE CEMETERY AND WHAT IS NOW WALNUT GROVE BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1869. A COPY OF THIS TRANSACTION IS ON FILE AT THE NACOGDOCHES COUNTY LAND RECORDS.

MARY JANE HENLEY PARROTT IS THE PERSON LIVING THE LONGEST TO BE BURIED HERE; SHE WAS BORN NOVEMBER 15, 1859 AND DIED AUGUST 11, 1958 ALMOST REACHING THE AGE OF 99. ELIZABETH HARTT IS THE OLDEST PERSON IN AGE, BORN MAY 8, 1818 AND DIED SEPTEMBER 2, 1900. THE CEMETERY CONTAINS OVER ONE HUNDRED GRAVES THAT ARE MARKED UNKNOWN. THE MARKERS HAVE PROBABLY BEEN LOST WITH PASSING OF TIME.

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY DOROTHY A. BORDERS IN APRIL 1978. IT APPEARED IN THE GARRISON NEWSPAPER IN "DORRIE'S CORNER":

CEMETERIES ARE GOOD PLACES TO WALK ON A WARM SPRING SUNDAY AFTERNOON, IF YOU PRIZE QUIETUDE AND PRIVACY. THERE ARE NO CROWDS THERE. THEY'RE ALL AT THE LAKE OR AT THE PARK. CONSEQUENTLY, THERE'S NO NOISY PUSHING AND SHOVING, JUST SILENCE AND PEACE. YOU CAN HEAR YOURSELF THINK, AND MEDICATION COMES EASY. ANY COUNTRY CEMETERY WILL SERVE THIS PURPOSE, BUT I LIKE "WALNUT GROVE".

MY HOUSEHOLD EXPERT ON EVERYTHING TELLS ME THAT WALNUT GROVE IS ONE OF THE OLDEST CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY. THE REASON FOR ITS NAME IS OBVIOUS WHEN YOU SEE THE GNARLED AND BEAUTIFUL OLD WALNUT TREES STANDING AROUND IT. THE CEMETERY IS SITUATED ON A SANDY SLOP NEARBY.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE HAVE THEIR OWN UNIQUE REACTIONS WHEN WALKING THROUGH A CEMETERY. BOB SPECULATES ON INSCRIPTIONS HE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ON HIS TOMBSTONE: "GONE AND FORGOTTEN" OR "BEYOND THE REACH OF BILL COLLECTORS", FOR EXAMPLE, I ON THE OTHER HAND, TRY TO IMAGINE THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE BURIED THERE.

AT WALNUT GROVE, THERE IS A YOUNG WORLD WAR I SOLDIER WHO DIED OF HIS WOUNDS JUST A MONTH BEFORE THE WAR TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY ENDED. HE WAS A PRIVATE, 32 YEARS AND 20 DAYS OLD AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH. HOW DID HE COME TO BE INVOLVED IN A WORLD WAR? HOW DID HE RECEIVE THE WOUNDS THAT KILLED HIM? WHOM DID HE LEAVE BEHIND? WAS HIS SACRIFICE WORTH IT? IF HE HAD SURVIVED ANOTHER MONTH AND WERE STILL ALIVE TODAY, HE WOULD BE CELEBRATING HIS NINETY-SECOND BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR, SURROUNDED BY HIS CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN, PERHAPS. INSTEAD, HE LIES BURIED UNDER A TOMBSTONE IN THIS QUIET CEMETERY. THERE ARE MANY TOMBSTONES FROM THE LAST CENTURY AT WALNUT GROVE, MANY OF THEM SO STAINED BY THE RAVAGES OF TIME THAT THEIR INSCRIPTIONS ARE NO LONGER LEGIBLE. BUT THOSE WHICH HAVE LEGIBLE INSCRIPTIONS HAVE A LOT TO SAY TO ANYONE WHO HAS THE TIME TO STOP AND READ THEM.

"WAITING FOR THE RESURRECTION MORN" SAYS ONE. THE WOMAN LYING THERE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR FIFTY YEARS ALREADY. THEN THERE IS A TINY MOUND WITH THE MARKER WHICH READS SIMPLY "OUR DARLING BABY". SOMEONE'S DREAMS LIES BURIED THERE.

MANY POIGNANT STILL ARE ALL THE PATHETIC LITTLE MOUNDS WITH NO MARKERS AT ALL, OR WITH ONLY A BRICK OR A NATIVE STONE WITH NO INSCRIPTION, NOT EVEN A NAME. WHO ARE ALL THESE ANONYMOUS BABIES? DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THEM? DOES SOMEONE STILL GRIEVE FOR THEM?

THE MOST INTERESTING MARKERS ARE THE HOMEMADE ONES, WITH THEIR CRUDE LETTERING AND MISSPELLED WORDS, EACH ONE CARVED WITH LOVE. I PARTICULARLY LIKE THE ONES AT WALNUT GROVE WHICH ARE MADE WITH PIECES OF COLORED GLASS IMBEDDED IN THEIR SURFACES. I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING QUITE LIKE THEM. THEY ARE, IN THEIR OWN WAY, WORKS OF ART.

MY FAVORITE MARKER, THOUGH, IS THE ONE WHICH READS, "IN MEMORY OF LOVE". THAT COULD SERVE AS A SUMMATION FOR ALL THE TOMBSTONE AND FOR CEMETERIES. CEMETERIES, AFTER ALL, MEMORIALIZE LOVE AND LIFE, PERHAPS THAT IS WHY THEY ARE SUCH PEACEFUL PLACES TO SPEND AN HOUR OR TWO ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

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