Waverly Cemetery
New Waverly, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery is situated on the land originally purchased in 1853 by Mary M. Lewis, James E. Scott, Laura A. Scott, and Milly D. Scott. The first recorded burial was that of John Andrew Jackson (1822-1855), a pioneer settler of Waverly. Three gravestones dated 1852 indicate reinterments rather than earlier burials. Hamlin F. Lewis, John Elliot Scott, and Robert Lindsey Scott left Alabama for Texas but fell victim to cholera in 1852 and were buried along the way. Relatives of the men had their remains placed in this site in 1859. In 1857 Waverly Institute purchased 200 acres of land which included the burial ground. Through the efforts of Henry M. Elmore (1816-1879), president of Waverly Institute board of trustees, twelve acres were officially set aside for cemetery use in 1873. The town of Waverly was a cultural, educational, and religious center before the Civil War. When New Waverly was founded on the railroad in the 1880s, Waverly declined, but its cemetery remains in use. The burial ground has always been associated with the pioneer settlers of Waverly. In 1965 descendants of the settlers formed a cemetery association to maintain the site. (1978)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Set on land purchased in 1853, this cemetery holds the pioneer settlers of Waverly, including men who died of cholera on the journey from Alabama and were later reinterred here by their families. The nearby Waverly Institute set aside acreage for burials, and before the Civil War the town was a thriving cultural and educational center. When the railroad bypassed it in the 1880s and New Waverly rose instead, the old town faded—but its cemetery endures.
Why it matters
The graveyard is the last tangible trace of a once-vibrant antebellum Texas community that the coming of the railroad left behind.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1850s, Texas was a young state filling up quickly with settlers from the older South. Families from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas moved west in wagon trains looking for cheaper, fertile land. Many settled in the wooded, rolling country of East Texas, including what is now Walker County.
That journey could be deadly. Cholera spread through the United States in repeated waves in the mid-nineteenth century. It moved along rivers, roads and emigrant routes, and it could kill a healthy traveler within days. Families on the move often had to bury their dead beside the trail and keep going, hoping to come back someday.
Waverly grew up in this world as a planned community with high ambitions. Before the Civil War it became a cultural, educational and religious center, with an academy and churches that made it more than a farming settlement. Its later decline followed a familiar Texas pattern: when the railroad came through in the 1880s, it passed the old town by, and a new town took the name and the future.
People & events
The land under this cemetery was purchased in 1853 by Mary M. Lewis, James E. Scott, Laura A. Scott and Milly D. Scott. The first recorded burial came two years later, John Andrew Jackson, a pioneer settler of Waverly who died in 1855. He was only in his early thirties, a reminder of how uncertain frontier life could be.
The most moving story here comes from three gravestones dated 1852. They are older than the cemetery's first burial, and they mark men who were reburied here. Hamlin F. Lewis, John Elliot Scott and Robert Lindsey Scott left Alabama for Texas but died of cholera on the way and were buried along the road. Seven years later, in 1859, their relatives had their remains brought here so that they could rest with the family that had made it to Waverly.
In 1857 the Waverly Institute bought 200 acres that included the burial ground, which tied the cemetery to the town's identity as a place of learning. Henry M. Elmore, president of the institute's board of trustees, pushed to protect it, and in 1873 twelve acres were officially set aside for the cemetery. Nearly a century later, in 1965, descendants of the settlers formed a cemetery association to care for it.
Its place in the American story
Waverly Cemetery tells in miniature the story of westward migration before the Civil War. The American South pushed steadily into Texas, carrying families, institutions and hopes. The deaths on the road from Alabama, and the families' determination to bring their men home to rest, show how much that migration cost people.
The cemetery is also a monument to the power of the railroad. In the late nineteenth century, a rail line could make or break a town almost overnight. Across the country, communities that were bypassed faded into ghost towns or crossroads while new towns grew up beside the tracks. Waverly's shift to New Waverly is one clear example of that nationwide change.
It also shows how Americans keep their history through family memory. The reburials in 1859, the land set aside in 1873 and the descendants' association of 1965 were all acts of care stretching across generations. Local history often survives because a family decides it matters.
If you visit
The cemetery is still in use, so treat it as a living burial ground as well as a historic site. Move quietly and respectfully among the stones, and stay on paths where there are any.
Look for the gravestones dated 1852, which are earlier than the cemetery's first recorded burial. Knowing that these men died on the road from Alabama and came home to their families seven years later makes them the most affecting stones on the grounds. Older markers show the styles and inscriptions of nineteenth-century Texas mourning.
This stop pairs well with a drive through the Piney Woods of Walker County. Ask yourself as you drive why one town lives and another fades, and notice how often the answer is where the railroad ran. For travelers who like ghost towns and frontier history, the cemetery is one of the few tangible remains of the old town of Waverly.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Henry M. Elmore
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Former Town of Danville
Willis, TX
Founded before 1840 in a rich plantation district, Danville grew into a thriving trade center with fifteen businesses, churches, and good schools. When its leaders refused right-of-way to the Houston & Great Northern Railway in the 1870s, commerce fled to the new railroad town of Willis, and Danville faded until only Sheperd Hill Cemetery remained. Among its people was Jonathan Lindley, who died defending the Alamo in March 1836.
Isaac Jones
Point Blank, TX
Isaac Jones was a self-reliant pioneer who moved to the Trinity River country in 1834, taking up a Mexican land grant on the river's west bank while Texas was still under Mexican rule. He served briefly in the army of the young Texas Republic between 1836 and 1838 and later ran a ferry at Jones Bluff, a vital river crossing for travelers and goods.
Newport
Walker County, TX
Newport was founded in 1846 by Joseph Werner, a German emigrant who staked his hopes on the traffic of the Trinity River. Like many antebellum Texas river towns, its fortunes rose and fell with the water: when steamboat navigation on the Trinity declined, the town was left behind and abandoned.
Early Roads in Polk County
Livingston, TX
Long before roads were surveyed, the Creeks, Alabamas, Coushattas, and Kickapoos of this region laced it with trails for trade and travel, including Long King's Trace and the Coushatta Trace reaching toward Mexico. After Anglo settlement began in the 1820s, these Native paths hardened into stagecoach roads, while Trinity River boats served some twenty landings along Polk County's riverfront. Roads and river together carried the county's produce and people for generations.