Greater Riverside Cemetery
Hearne, Robertson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery has served the African-American community in Hearne and the old town of Hearne since 1894. The area was originally settled by farmers, many of whom brought slaves with them when they immigrated to Texas. Hearne, named for Christopher Columbus Hearne, was platted in 1868 and developed as a crossroads for rail traffic.This burial ground was originally named the New Colored Cemetery, though it was known by a variety of names over the years; it was most commonly called St. Mark's Cemetery until 1933, when it became known as Riverside Cemetery. The original burial ground was made up of twenty acres purchased by the Colored Cemetery Association. The Primitive Baptist Church donated an acre to the burial ground when they relocated from here in 1906, and St. Manuel Baptist Church added an additional three acres in 1948.The first known interment here was of Chaney Delila Henderson in 1896. Since that time, hundreds of burials have occurred here. The grounds hold an especially large number of military veterans, including those who fought in conflicts dating to the Spanish-American War. Among the cemetery's features are markers for members of the Mosaic Templars of American, a black fraternal association with few known chapters in Texas. The Greater Riverside Association formed in 1982 and maintan the 24-acre cemetery; the association also renamed the burial ground. Today, Greater Riverside Cemetery continues to serve as a testament to the rich African-American legacy in the community of Hearne.Historic Texas Cemetery-2007
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Hearne grew up as a rail crossroads on the Texas farmland where enslaved and later freed African Americans lived and labored, its Black community needed a burying ground of its own. Consecrated in 1894 as the New Colored Cemetery — later St. Mark's, then Riverside — it took its first known burial in 1896 and has since received hundreds, among them veterans reaching back to the Spanish-American War and members of the Mosaic Templars of America, a rare Texas chapter of that Black fraternal order. Church congregations and, from 1982, the Greater Riverside Association enlarged and tended the grounds to their present 24 acres.
Why it matters
Black cemeteries like this one are among the most enduring records of African American community, faith, and military service in the postwar South, holding names and lives that official histories too often left unwritten.
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Related people
- · Christopher Columbus Hearne
- · Chaney Delila Henderson
Themes & tags
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