Oakwood Cemetery

Grand at Gould Avenue, Oakwood Cemetery, at gate, Fort Worth

Founded 1879 by John Peter Smith, one of Fort Worth's first settlers, who became a civic leader, Mayor, philanthropist. He gave 20 acres to City; cemetery since enlarged to 100. The area contains three cemeteries: Oakwood, Calvary, Trinity. Many Fort Worth and Tarrant County men and women of destiny are buried here. Plots are owned by lodges, unions, Catholic, Protestant, Negro, and White. Tracts are dedicated to Union and Confederate soldiers. The Chapel was built in 1914. Oakwood, Calvary Associations, and City provide care. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966

P. A. Watson Cemetery

1024 N. Watson Rd. (SH 360), Arlington

Mrs. Micajah Goodwin was buried here in 1846, soon after her family came to this area. They constructed a coffin from their wagon bed and burned brush atop the grave to hide it from Indians. When Patrick Alfred Watson (1810-1894) of North Carolina bought the land in 1853, he set aside a one-acre cemetery. In 1870 Watson gave land and a structure was built for Watson Community's first school and church, later West Fork Presbyterian Church. In 1956 Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was routed around the cemetery and the church was relocated.

Parker Cemetery

1300 Block of Cardinal Drive, Hurst

Land for cemetery donated by Isaac Duke Parker, Jan. 14, 1901. He was son of Isaac Parker, pioneer politician for whom Parker County was named and who was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker, white girl captured by Comanche Indians in 1836 and reared as an Indian. She was the wife of Comanche Peta Nocona and mother of Quanah Parker, the last great Comanche war chief. Both Isaac Parker and Isaac Duke Parker served as members of the Texas Legislature. Isaac Duke Parker is buried here. Cemetery also contains a public burial section.

Parker Memorial Cemetery

FM 121 access road south about 3 miles from Grapevine. Cemetery is on west side of road, 1 block north of Hall-Johnson Road.

The first burial here is thought to be that of Christina Driskill (1797-1862), whose son-in-law Isaac Green Parker (1816-1875) owned the land. In 1881 Parker's widow, Mary (Polly) Parker Turner (1820-1897) deeded the 4.31-acre plot for a public burial ground. A tabernacle was erected in 1928 and used at first for funeral services and later for meetings of the cemetery association. Formerly known as "Clements Cemetery", it was renamed "Parker" in 1937. Many members of the Pleasant Glade Community are buried here.

Peterson Family Cemetery

Between Old Denton Road and I-35, 2.5 miles north of Saginaw-Watauga Road. On Private Property not accessible by any road.

Swedish native John Peterson (1840-1925) came to the United States in 1868. His wife, Thilda (Mossberg) (1848-1912), joined him two years later. They lived in Nebraska before coming to Texas in 1872. Peterson acquired several hundred acres in this part of Tarrant County and made his living by farming the land. His granddaughter Grace (1902-1903) was the first to be buried in this cemetery plot set aside for the family. A reminder of Tarrant County's early Swedish settlements, the Peterson Family Cemetery contains a total of ten graves. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.

Pioneer Stone Burial Cairns (at Mount Gilead Cemetery)

Bancroft Road at J.T. Ottinger Rd., Mt. Gilead Cemetery, Keller

Scattered throughout many of the pioneer cemeteries in Texas are unusual stone structures, or burial cairns, built by the early settlers to memorialize their dead. Primarily surface structures of native stone, the cairns vary in design and workmanship. Their use, however, is representative of traditional burial customs prevalent in the South during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although their specific purpose and origin are subject to theory, cairns such as these are outstanding examples of pioneer lore and tradition.

Pioneer's Rest Cemetery

600 block Samuels Ave., Pioneer's Rest Cemetery, Fort Worth

This burial ground was started in the summer of 1850 upon the deaths of Sophie and Willis Arnold, children of Major Ripley A. Arnold (1817-1853), commander of the troops at Fort Worth. Arnold's friend, Doctor Adolphus Gouhenant, set aside a three-acre burial site at that time. In 1871, after a cemetery association was begun, Baldwin Samuels gave three adjoining acres. Many early Fort Worth settlers, including 75 Civil War veterans, are buried here. This site also contains the graves of Major Arnold and General Edward H.Tarrant (1799-1858), for whom Tarrant County was named.

Rehoboth Cemetery

Corner of T. O. Harris Rd. and FM 157 (Cooper St.), Arlington

The Rehoboth Cemetery began in 1871 with the burial of infant Mary Miller. The cemetery served the community of Sublett, named after John Sublett. The town consisted of a school, post office and church. The one-room schoolhouse, also used by the Rehoboth Baptist Church, once stood next to the cemetery. The 2.5 acre site contains more than 500 graves, although many of the headstones are illegible. Among those buried here are pioneer settlers and their descendants. Formed in 1970, the Rehoboth Cemetery Association maintains the site, which continues to serve the area. (1997)

Riley Cemetery

Intersection of Morning Glory Lane and 3700 block of Brown Trail Drive, Colleyville. (West side of Road)

About 1856 Jonathan Riley (b. ca. 1791) brought his family to this area from Kentucky. He received this land grant in 1863. The burial ground began, legend says, when a thief was killed nearby and Riley gave permission for his burial here. Riley's family and neighbors also used the cemetery. In 1883 Thomas Riley and William Autry set aside this one-acre tract for a graveyard. Burials stopped here before 1897, except for that of Riley's daughter Mrs. Martha Susan Autry (b. 1853) who was interred here in 1937. Some graves are now designated only with sandstones; many others are unmarked.

Rodgers Cemetery

1/4 mi. N. of Shady Oak Dr., Little School Rd., on Little School Rd., Kennedale - on private property

Georgia native Thomas F. Rodgers (1835-1906) and his wife Mary (Adams) (1842-1912) came to Texas from Kansas in the late 1850s. A successful farmer and stock raiser, Thomas Rodgers later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Eventually he became one of Kennedale's leading landowners. Part of his property was later set aside for this burial ground. Although most of the interments here are for Rodgers family members, the earliest marked grave is that of L.G. Patterson (1883-84), a son of the Rodgers' early neighbors.

Smithfield Cemetery

Smithfield Road, just north of intersection with Main Street, North Richland Hills.

Eli Smith (1848-79), for whose family the town of Smithfield is named, came from Missouri to Texas about 1859. In the early 1870s he donated part of his farm for the cemetery. The oldest marked grave is that of an infant, Mattie J. Brownfield, who died on Oct. 13, 1872. More than seventy-five graves, including that of Eli Smith, date from the 1870s. Pioneer physician Lilburn Howard Colley (b. 1843), for whom nearby Colleyville is named, was interred here in 1924. Numerous Civil War veterans, including men from both the Union and Confederate Armies, are also buried here.

Smith-Frazier Cemetery

Ash Street, 1/10 mile N. of intersection of Ash St. and Park St., Azle

Fort Worth businessman and philanthropist J.J. Jarvis bought land here in 1871 and built a home on the property in the early 1880s. A benefactor to the area's black institutions, he deeded this site to Charles Young and Allen Prince in 1886 as a burial ground for Azle's black community. Several graves were already located here when the land was conveyed. The site was later inherited by descendants of the pioneer Smith and Frazier families. Still in use, the Smith-Frazier Cemetery serves as a reminder of the area's early settlers.

Tate Cemetery

4200 block of Pleasant Ridge Road, Arlington

E.C. Tate (1832-1885) came from Georgia to settle this land about 1872. He formed the Tate Springs Community here and helped organize the Tate Springs Church in 1882. Tate was buried at this site, and by 1894 three of his children also had been laid to rest here. In that year Tate's son Robert designated the burials and one acre as the community cemetery. Robert Tate's later grave is recorded but unmarked, as are some 35 other burials. Most graves belong to members of the Tate family and the old community. In 1965 funds were raised for a perimeter fence and entry arch.

Thomas Easter Cemetery

2800 block of Southlake Blvd. From Grapevine take Southlake Blvd. about 1 mile east. Marker is located on north side.

Virginia native Thomas Easter, born about 1823, migrated to Texas and settled in Tarrant County by 1848. Easter patented a 640-acre tract of land in the northeast corner of the county. A portion of this land was used as a cemetery upon his death in 1862. His wife Charity Easter, born about 1820, was buried here in the early 1880s. Another known burial is that of early settler Hardin West (b. 1809), who died on March 10, 1881. The Cemetery contains several unmarked graves. The Easter Schoolhouse stood beside the burial ground during the 19th Century. (1983)

Tomlin Cemetery

Tomlin Lane, Arlington; at dead end

This cemetery was first used in the 1870s by the Wilkinsons, a pioneer family whose graves are marked by clusters of rock. Members of the Angel family are also buried here. The oldest dated gravestone is that of Virginia native Soloman Tomlin (b. 1825), a horseman and farmer who migrated with his family to Texas in the 1860s. He died on July 9, 1884. His son James Tives "Buck" Tomlin (1852-1934), a noted breeder of fine racing horses, bought the cemetery property in 1888. It has since been designated to serve the descendants of the Tomlin Family.

White's Chapel Cemetery

Southlake Blvd. (FM 1709) at Pleasant Run-White's Chapel Rd.

According to local legend, this cemetery began about 1851, when a child traveling through this area in a wagon train died and was buried here. The oldest documented burial, that of infant Amy A. Marr, took place in 1872. Many graves in the pioneer cemetery are unmarked, or are marked only with fieldstones. Native red sandstone is used for many of the markers and curbing. Among those laid to rest here are former state legislator Elihu Newton (1845-1925), who served in the 20th and 23rd Texas legislatures, and veterans of the Civil War and other armed conflicts. A reminder of the once-rural, pioneer heritage of this part of Tarrant County, the cemetery is cared for by the White's Chapel Cemetery Association. (2001)

Willburn Cemetery

3720 Streamwood Rd., Fort Worth

Many of the individuals buried in this pioneer cemetery are descendants of Edward Willburn (1805-82) and his wife Nancy (Overton) (ca. 1811-87), immigrants from the upper south who settled here in the 1850s. The earliest marked grave, dated 1867, is for the infant child of William and Cassandra (Williams) Willburn. Also interred here: Rachael M. (Wilburn) Snyder, donor of property for a church, school, and cemetery in Benbrook; Church Willburn, a cowboy on several cattle drives in the 1860s; Civil War veterans; and other pioneers of southwestern Tarrant County. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Wilson Cemetery

Lake Ridge Parkway, Grand Prairie; across from entrance of Lynn Creek Park at Lake Joe Pool

This pioneer cemetery dates to 1872, when Charles N. Wilson buried his wife and infant child here. Ophelia E. West Wilson (1853-1872) and her newborn daughter died as a result of complications during childbirth. Third grave in the cemetery, that of the Bowlin infant, is unmarked. James W. and Mattie C. Bowlin buried their son here, since a public graveyard was not readily accessible to their home. The Wilson Cemetery contains only these three graves, but it is an important reminder of the ways of life in 19th century Tarrant County. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Witten Cemetery

Jackson Court, cul-de-sac at end of, Colleyville; off 4700 block of Jackson St., Fort Worth

This cemetery was established for the family of Samuel Cecil Holiday Witten (1819-91), who came to Texas in 1854. A successful landowner, he also served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy County Surveyor. Witten first used this burial site in 1857 for the interment of his son, William. Also buried here is another son, George (1841-68), who drowned while on a cattle drive, and a son-in-law, Ryan Harrington (1829-84), a participant in the 1849 California Gold Rush. Samuel Witten and his wife moved to Corpus Christi in 1890 and the cemetery was later used by family descendants.

Carousel

Six Flags Over Texas, 2201 Road to Six Flags, opposite main entry, Arlington

Made popular in Texas by traveling shows and carnivals. Arrival of a horse-drawn carousel in a town was a great event. Rides to tunes of the calliope helped to celebrate townsite openings, completions of railroads, promotions in boom towns. (1966)

Narrow Gauge Railway

Depot Station, Six Flags over Texas, 2201 Road to Six Flags, Arlington

Economical to build, operate and maintain, many narrow gauge railroads were running in Texas between 1853 and 1900. Some were "Taps" (for towns off the main line); some logging roads, going deep into woods and swamps. Hauled passengers, thousands of cattle, tons of sugar cane or other crops, and were used for general traffic. One line -- Great Sweetgum, Yubadam & Hoo Hoo -- operated at first as the T.M. & C. (Two Mules and a Car). The two engines at Six Flags over Texas were built in 1887 and 1903; and rebuilt according to original specifications.