Olivewood Cemetery
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Olivewood Cemetery lies near a bend in White Oak Bayou, along the rail line to Chaney Junction, where the First and Sixth wards meet just northwest of downtown Houston. The six-acre cemetery is an historic resting place for many freed slaves and some of Houston’s earliest black residents.
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[edit] History
In 1875, the land, which had previously been used for slave burials, was purchased by Richard Brock, Houston's first black alderman. It opened as a cemetery for black Methodists in 1877.[1] When Olivewood was platted, it was the first African-Americans burial ground within the Houston city limits.[2]
Many 19th century influential African-Americans were buried in the cemetery, including Reverend Elias Dibble, first minister of Trinity United Methodist Church; Reverend Wade H. Logan, also a minister of the church; and James Kyle, a blacksmith; as well as Richard Brock.[3]
The cemetery includes more than 700 family plots around a graceful, elliptical drive that originated at an ornate entry gate. It contains graves of both the well-to-do and those who died in poverty; therefore, the grave markers run the gamut from elaborate Victorian monuments to simple, handmade headstones. Burials at Olivewood Cemetery continued through the 1960s.[4]
In 2003, after decades of neglect and abandonment, the "Decedents of Olivewood," a nonprofit organization, was established to take guardianship of the cemetery, "to provide care and to protect its historical significance."[5] The group has also been working to have Olivewood designated an Historic Texas Cemetery.
[edit] Hauntings
Over the years, there have been numerous reports of mysterious after-dark sightings and strange movements within the graveyard.[6]
Cathi Bunn, a paranormal investigator, began exploring Olivewood in 1999. One moonlit midnight, Bunn said she videotaped the ghost of Mary White, who was buried in 1888, hovering above her headstone.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Aulbach, L.F., "Ghosts of Houston's Past Haunt the Cemeteries on Buffalo Bayou," Buffalo Bayou - An Echo of Houston's Wilderness Beginnings (2001).[1]
- ^ Perry, J., "Houston Heritage - Grave undertaking: efforts to preserve earliest black cemetery," City Savvy (Online Ed. 2005).[2]
- ^ "Projects - Black Cemetery Preservation/Tombstone Transcription," Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. (AAHGS - H-Town, 2003-2004).[3]
- ^ "Preservation Update," Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.[4]
- ^ Perry, J., supra.
- ^ Perry, J., supra.
- ^ "Historic and Haunted Olivewood Cemetery," Cemeteries, The Ghastly Ghost Hunter.[5]
[edit] External links
- Olivewood Cemetery at African Americans Burials
