Camp Shed Cemetery
Cooper, Delta County, Texas
Marker Inscription
CADDO INDIANS INITIALLY INHABITED THE REGION AROUND CAMP SHED CEMETERY, NEAR THE NORTH SULPHUR RIVER. IN 1836, EURO-AMERICANS BEGAN COLONIZING THE REGION. MANY EARLY SETTLERS USED THE AREA AS A CAMPGROUND IN THEIR MIGRATION WEST. EVEN BEFORE ITS OFFICIAL DEDICATION, CAMP SHED CEMETERY SERVED THE COMMUNITIES OF ENLOE AND MOUNT JOY. IN 1880, JOHNNIE KERBOW BECAME THE FIRST RECORDED BURIAL. THE CEMETERY WAS OFFICIALLY DEEDED IN 1886, AND REFERRED TO AS THE CAMPSTEAD GRAVE YARD. THIS DEED ALSO REFERRED TO A “CAMP SHED…WHICH ONCE STOOD” ON THE PROPERTY. VETERANS FROM THE CIVIL WAR, WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II ARE INTERRED HERE. CAMP SHED CEMETERY REMAINS A RECORD OF CHANGE IN RURAL EAST TEXAS. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The land around Camp Shed Cemetery, near the North Sulphur River, was home to the Caddo before Euro-American settlers began arriving in 1836, and many early migrants used the spot as a campground on their way west. Serving the communities of Enloe and Mount Joy, the ground saw its first recorded burial — Johnnie Kerbow — in 1880 and was formally deeded in 1886, when it was still called the "Campstead" graveyard after a camp shed that once stood there. Veterans of the Civil War and both world wars rest among its graves.
Why it matters
From Caddo homeland to westward campground to community burial ground, Camp Shed Cemetery is a layered record of how rural East Texas changed hands and generations.
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Related people
- · Johnnie Kerbow
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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