Bluewater Cemetery
Polk County, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The woods of Polk County provided refuge and a new home for many families from Mississippi following the Civil War. They supported the Union during the war but sought to avoid the post-Reconstruction attitudes of their neighbors. The Collins and the Knight families were among these new residents. Soon, both the Knight community and the Bluewater community would develop as families moved in during the close of the 19th century. Many of these founders of the community and war veterans would be buried in Bluewater cemetery, established in 1898. That same year, the Missionary Baptist Church of Bluewater was first organized, with local landowner E. P. Dowden as one of the first members. He went on to donate a parcel of land to the county for the construction of a school in 1907. The first known burial here was of Thomas Jefferson Collins, among the first Mississippians to settle here. Much of his family and descendants would be buried here. There are more than 600 burials, with dozens of veteran headstones. More than 200 are engraved double headstones. Some have homemade concrete borders, others are handmade in full concrete. Prominent cedar trees mark some of the older graves. The front gate is black cast iron, and the fences are chain link. A small wood frame building sits on the corner of the property. Some say that it is the old church building but records cannot fully support the claim. The cemetery still stands as a reminder of the many hardships and sacrifices of our ancestors and their proud descendants who continue to maintain the cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Civil War, families who had supported the Union — among them the Collins and Knight households — left Mississippi for the pineywoods of Polk County to escape hostile Reconstruction-era neighbors. Their settlements gave rise to the Bluewater community, whose cemetery was established in 1898, the same year a Missionary Baptist church organized nearby. More than 600 graves rest here, many marked by handmade concrete stones and shaded by old cedar trees.
Why it matters
Bluewater preserves the little-told story of Southern Unionists who migrated to escape post-war reprisals, showing how the Civil War reshaped where and how Americans chose to build new communities.
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Related people
- · Thomas Jefferson Collins
- · E.P. Dowden
Themes & tags
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