Mt. Calvary Cemetery
Gay Hill, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground served residents of the Mt. Calvary community. The Mt. Calvary settlement dates to the early years of the 20th century, when J.S. Poteet, a large landowner, employed a number of Mexican immigrants as sharecroppers. The workers and their families formed the farming community. In 1917, an influenza outbreak led to a number of deaths among Mt. Calvary residents. Poteet donated property so that the victims could be buried. There are a number of unmarked graves here, including that of the earliest burial. The oldest marked grave is of Angela M. Orozco (d. 1918). Cemetery features here reflect the predominantly Catholic Mexican heritage of the interred. Many burial ceremonies have been conducted at the foot of a white cross, called La Santa Cruz del Descanso (the holy cross of the last resting place), which is located near the center of the cemetery. Grave ornamentation, including religious iconography, also reveals the cultural background for many buried here. Through the years, several cemetery committees have organized to care for the burial ground. In the early 1970s, on the advice of the U.S. Army corps of engineers, members of one of these committees joined other residents of the nearby community of Somerville to raise funds to survey and fence the cemetery. In 2004, the Mt. Calvary Cemetery Association formed to maintain the burial ground. Today, Mt. Cavalry cemetery continues to serve as a testament to the Mexican immigrants and others who resided and worked in northwestern Washington county.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Mt. Calvary community took shape in the early 1900s when landowner J.S. Poteet employed Mexican immigrant families as sharecroppers on his Washington County farms. When an influenza outbreak in 1917 brought a wave of deaths, Poteet donated ground for their burial, and the oldest marked grave dates to 1918. Catholic Mexican traditions shape the cemetery, where ceremonies are held at a white cross called La Santa Cruz del Descanso.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the presence and faith of Mexican immigrant laborers whose work sustained Texas farms but whose communities left few other records.
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Related events
- · 1917 influenza outbreak
Themes & tags
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