Oakwood Cemetery (Huntsville, Texas)

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Oakwood Cemetery
Oakwood-Mayes Addition Cemetery
Powell Sanctuary Huntsville Texas 2023.jpg
Powell Sanctuary in the Oakwood Cemetery
Oakwood Cemetery (Huntsville, Texas)
Details
Location
Martin Luther King Drive
Huntsville, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates 30°43′35″N95°32′33″W / 30.72625°N 95.54242°W / 30.72625; -95.54242
Owned byCity of Huntsville
Find a Grave Oakwood Cemetery
Oakwood-Mayes Addition Cemetery

The Oakwood Cemetery, also known as the Oakwood-Mayes Addition Cemetery, is a historic cemetery located in Huntsville, Texas. [1]

Contents

History

In 1847, Pleasant Gray deed a 1,600 square feet (150 m2) piece of land. [2] The First Christian Church of Huntsville purchased the land in 1963 from H. Boyd Mayes. It is owned and maintained by the City of Huntsville since 2003.

Sam Houston's (1793-1863) gravestone by Pompeo Coppini in 1910 Sam Houston Grave.jpg
Sam Houston's (1793–1863) gravestone by Pompeo Coppini in 1910

Many pioneering families are buried at this site, as well as people that died in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1867, many of which were the Union army soldiers who stayed after the war ended. [2] The cemetery has six sections for distinguished for periods of expansion: Adickes Addition, Mayes Addition, [3] New Cemetery, Old Cemetery with "Negro Cemetery", and the Wildwood Sanctuary. [1] [4] In 2004, some 150 unmarked sunken graves were discovered in the older part of the cemetery, and unlettered white concrete crosses were added to their location; thought to have been the graves of the enslaved. [5]

This cemetery is a reportedly haunted location, specifically the "Christus", or "Black Jesus" gravestone marker by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen for Rawley Rather Powell. [2] [5] [6]

Notable burials

Christus by Bertel Thorvaldsen in bronze, or "Black Jesus", grave for Rawley Rather Powell in the Powell Sanctuary BlackJesusOakwoodCemetery.jpg
Christus by Bertel Thorvaldsen in bronze, or "Black Jesus", grave for Rawley Rather Powell in the Powell Sanctuary

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sam Houston's Grave & Oakwood Cemetery". City of Huntsville, Texas.
  2. 1 2 3 "Would You Walk Through The Most Haunted Cemetery In Texas? Check It Out!". LoneStar 92.3. October 26, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  3. ↑ "The W.W. Adickes Addition to Oakwood Cemetery". Historical Marker Database (HMDB).
  4. 1 2 "Oakwood Cemetery". Historical Marker Database (HMDB).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Altom, Wes (May 1, 2019). "Texas Treasures: Oakwood Cemetery". Postcards Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  6. ↑ Woolley, Bryan (2000). Final Destinations: A Travel Guide for Remarkable Cemeteries in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. University of North Texas Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN   978-1-57441-085-3.
  7. ↑ Cutrer, Thomas W. (November 1, 1994) [1952]. "Leonard Anderson Abercrombie: Confederate Officer and Texas Legislator". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  8. ↑ Schermerhorn, Calvin (December 22, 2021). "George Fitzhugh (1806–1881)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Retrieved August 15, 2025.
  9. ↑ Monday, Jane (June 15, 2010). "Houston, Joshua". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  10. ↑ "Huntsville Item". Historical Marker Database (HMDB).
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