Myrtle Springs Cemetery
New Summerfield, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Begun during the 1860s, this cemetery served as a burial ground for citizens of the town of Lone Star as well as other scattered settlements in the area. Many homesteads were located nearby, and a union church was attended by many families until the 1920s. The cemetery is located on land deeded to the Myrtle Springs Church by area pioneer Thomas Garrison. Though several hand-cut sandstone markers are illegible or contain only initials, the earlier marked grave is that of Martha C. Wallace, born in 1852, and buried here in 1866. At least fifteen veterans of the Civil War are interred here, and more are believed to rest in unmarked graves. In October 1950, an additional tract for land was added to the original cemetery plot. In 1963 a group of area citizens formed a cemetery association for the care of the burial ground. The state of Texas granted a perpetual care charter ot the association in 1967. Although the settlement of Lone Star became a ghost town, the cemetery has served a widespread rural community, including the town of Ponta and area farms and homesteads. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in the 1860s on land deeded by pioneer Thomas Garrison, this burial ground served the vanished town of Lone Star and scattered East Texas homesteads, its earliest marked grave that of young Martha Wallace in 1866. At least fifteen Civil War veterans rest here, some beneath hand-cut sandstone markers now worn to bare initials. Though Lone Star became a ghost town, the cemetery endured, tended by a community association chartered for perpetual care in the 1960s.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a quiet archive of frontier settlement and Civil War-era life, preserving the memory of a rural community whose town has otherwise disappeared from the map.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
This cemetery began during the 1860s, one of the most turbulent decades in Texas history. The Civil War pulled men away from farms across East Texas, and the years that followed brought the upheaval of Reconstruction, economic hardship, and a slow rebuilding of rural life.
The region around present-day New Summerfield was a landscape of small homesteads and scattered settlements. Families farmed, gathered at a union church shared by several congregations, and relied on one another in a world where towns were small and distances felt long. The settlement of Lone Star was one of those communities.
Many such frontier towns rose and faded as roads, railroads, and economic opportunities shifted. When a town declines, its cemetery is often the last thing left, a fixed place in a landscape that keeps changing around it.
People & events
The ground here was given by Thomas Garrison, an area pioneer who deeded the land to the Myrtle Springs Church. His gift gave the scattered settlements a shared place to bury their dead, and it has served that purpose for more than a century.
The earliest marked grave belongs to Martha C. Wallace, born in 1852 and buried in 1866, when she was only a teenager. Her stone is a small but moving reminder of how fragile life could be for rural families in that era, when illness and hardship claimed the young as readily as the old.
At least fifteen Civil War veterans rest here, and more are thought to lie in unmarked graves. Some stones are hand-cut sandstone, now worn illegible or bearing only initials. Over the years the community kept faith with the place: land was added in 1950, a cemetery association formed in 1963, and the state granted it a perpetual care charter in 1967.
Its place in the American story
Across the United States, thousands of small rural cemeteries hold the story of ordinary Americans that rarely appears in textbooks. Myrtle Springs is one of them, a record of the farming families who settled East Texas and endured the Civil War era.
The veterans buried here connect this quiet ground to the national conflict. Their presence, including those in unmarked graves, is a reminder that the war's cost reached into every small community and that many who served were never formally recorded in stone.
The cemetery also speaks to America's many ghost towns. Lone Star disappeared, as countless small settlements did, but its people are remembered here. The community association that has cared for the ground for decades shows how local volunteers have often been the true keepers of American memory.
If you visit
Myrtle Springs is a peaceful, rural place, set in the wooded farm country of Cherokee County. Come quietly and respectfully, remembering that this is still an active community burial ground.
Look closely at the older stones. The hand-cut sandstone markers, some showing only initials, are easy to overlook but are among the most affecting things here, each one shaped by a neighbor's hands. Try to find the grave of young Martha Wallace, the earliest marked burial, and take a moment to imagine the family who laid her to rest.
This stop fits well into a slow drive through East Texas back roads. It is a place to pause rather than rush, and it rewards anyone curious about the small, vanished communities that once dotted this landscape.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Thomas Garrison
- · Martha C. Wallace
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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