Washington Cemetery
Giddings, Lee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The land for Washington Cemetery and Bethany Colored Church was donated to former slave Charlie Washington by Henry Wenke Sr. after the Civil War. In addition to a Methodist Church and a Baptist Church, the cemetery and adjoining land was used by the growing Center Union Community. This community grew from former slaves seeking to purchase farmland. The earliest known burial was in 1882, while the last person was buried here in 1954. Much of the cemetery and many headstones were damaged by a nearby landowner’s development in 1975. More recently, through the Washington Cemetery project this sacred ground has been preserved and protected.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Civil War, landowner Henry Wenke Sr. deeded this ground to Charlie Washington, a formerly enslaved man, giving rise to a cemetery, two churches, and the growing Center Union Community of freed people seeking to buy their own farmland. Burials here span from 1882 to 1954. In 1975 nearby development damaged much of the cemetery and many of its headstones, but a preservation project has since reclaimed and protected the site.
Why it matters
Freedmen's communities and their burial grounds document how African Americans built independent lives, land ownership, and institutions in the generation after emancipation—and how easily that heritage can be erased without active preservation.
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Related people
- · Charlie Washington
- · Henry Wenke Sr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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