Big Bend National Park
An Unofficial Guide to the Cemeteries and Gravesites
Glenn P. Willeford and Gerald G. Raun
For a number of years the authors have been seeking and finding cemeteries and gravesites that are scattered across the Big Bend of Texas. From western Jeff Davis County across the expanses of the region south of State Highway 90 in Presidio County to the eastern portion of Brewster County, few stones have been left unturned in an effort to locate and record the burial places of those who came before us. They were people who played significant roles in the development of the region and they deserve to be remembered and to have their graves properly respected. A full-length manuscript entitled Cemeteries and Funerary Practices in the Big Bend of Texas, 1850 to the Present has been prepared by Willeford and Raun. The book awaits publication by Sul Ross State University, an entity that subsidized a portion of the research in the late 1990s. The 192 page offering includes a section on the cemeteries of the northern corridor towns such as Alpine, Marfa, and Marathon as well as ruminations on such topics as rural funerary practices, the development of stone barrow-covered graves of the type commonly encountered in the lower Big Bend, funerary art and decoration (including roadside descansos and grutas), the annual "day of the dead" celebration on November 2, a thrilling ghost story from old Polvo on the Rio Grande, a treatise on "old-time Borderlands funerals," on motifs and symbolism, on the epidemics that have done a large part to fill up the graveyards, and a summation of the Texas state law regarding the matter. Perhaps most important for many folk who had ancestors in the lower Big Bend, the book has a list of burials from the death registers of the three counties. While the registers are far from complete, they do give the names, ages, cause of death, and places of burial for hundreds of people who passed on in the area known regionally as "down south."
The Big Bend National Park (BBNP), which contains over 800,000 acres of our national heritage, holds many cemeteries and gravesites. However, only one grave in the park, that of Mrs. L. C. Hannold (situated north of the Panther Junction along the highway toward Marathon) receives regular maintenance by park workers. Modern-day visitors to the BBNP may not realize that prior to the opening of the park in 1944 there were many communities, manufactories, mines, farms and ranches dotting the region. Beginning in 1900 several hundred people were enumerated in southern Brewster County on the US Manuscript Census and, due in large part to the inability of enumerators to access many places, many more went uncounted. With the mining activity that took place in the first two decades of the twentieth century the population continued to increase. Stores, restaurants, and people from the service sector in the northern corridor towns carried on a lively business down south. Post offices and schools were established to accommodate the burgeoning population. And, as happens anyplace, deaths began to occur. Soon every mine, community, and not a few ranches, had burial grounds "out yonder on the hill."
Today those old graveyards are deteriorating badly. In some cases they have disappeared. At only several places within the park do private citizens maintain tombs with any kind of regularity (those being the Castolón Cemetery, Terlingua Abajo, and at the Juan de Leon gravesite along the Old Ore Road), and even these acts are discouraged by the entrenched bureaucracy of the National Park System under the guise that these cemeteries are archeological sites. In fact these graveyards and sites are "historic cemeteries" (see Section 711.035(f) of the Texas Health and Safety Code) and they deserve to be treated as such.
It is true that the BBNP cemeteries hold the remains of a mostly immigrant population. In almost all cases the Anglo-Americans who died in the lower Big Bend region were transported out for burial in the northern corridor or elsewhere. Henceforth, especially after 1910 and the population explosion that began with the Mexican revolution, these lower Big Bend cementerios came to be populated almost entirely by Hispanics, people of first or second generation "Mexican-origin." (One can not help but wonder what the condition of the BBNP cemeteries would be had the Anglo-Americans of the region not preferred to be buried under juniper trees and grass.)
The authors hope that this information will be used by responsible persons to further the preservation of our regional cemeteries. We recognize that the potential for abuse in the form of vandalism and desecration exists. Indeed, that danger existed before we made this offering. Nevertheless, the right of the public to access most of the cultural resources within the BBNP outweighs any danger of the possibility that crimes may take place. Our advice to the park staff is that they use their law enforcement arm to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those who would desecrate a cemetery. A well-publicized jail term or two for miscreants will put a stop to that type of conduct. We suggest that that method is the only recourse they have, for attempting to deny a tax- and fee-paying public its right of ingress to the national parks that they fund is not only wrong, it is intolerable.
In summation we would say to our fellow citizens: exercise your rights, but do so responsibly. Form alliances, such as Adopt-a-Cemetery groups, to watchdog and care take our decaying rural graveyards. The bones of our ancestors remain a sacred trust, and how we preserve them says a lot about what differentiates us humans from the beasts of the field.
Boquillas (Texas) Cemetery - five graves in very poor condition. The fence is fallen.
Location: east of Rio Grande Village. Turn off the main highway on Boquillas Canyon Road then travel 1.4 miles. You will see the white Barker lodge on the right. This graveyard is situated across the road from the Barker lodge at about one-hundred yards off the pavement. It is, or should be, visible from the road.
Castolón Cemetery - about sixty graves, fence down, mostly medium condition.
Location: atop an escarpment about one-quarter mile north of La Harmonia (concession) store. This site can be seen from the public rest rooms at 60 degrees NNE. A pathway to the cemetery exists along the west side of the store.
Castolón gravesite - one burial, reasonably well kept (swept).
Loc: a hundred or more yards north of the La Harmonia store along the path that leads to the main cemetery.
Glenn Spring Cemetery - eleven burials, poor condition.
Loc: on the escarpment immediately behind the creek from the old wax works. Can be driven to with four-wheel drive (4X4).
Graham Pasture gravesite - one burial, (Juan de Leon, murdered on July19,1932). Good condition. Visitors should use a 4X4 drive vehicle on this road.
Loc: 3.8 miles north of the lower end of the Old Ore Road. East side of road in brush.
Gravesite of an unknown person - one possible burial, not maintained.
Loc: nineteen miles north of the lower entrance to the Old Ore Road, or about nine miles south of the upper entrance/exit. This apparent grave lies close to a falling down rock house.
Hannold (Mrs. L. C.) gravesite - excellent condition. Maintained with funding by the NPS.
Johnson's Ranch Cemetery - ten tombs, poor condition, not maintained.
Loc: Sixteen miles below Castolón and just north of the Johnson's Ranch site along the south side of the River Road. Look for one standing cement cross.
J. T. Lewis gravesite - one tomb, poor condition except for a Woodmen of the World marker.
Loc: immediately south of Glenn Spring on the escarpment. This marker can be seen from within Glenn Spring and from along the road leading south away from the old wax camp.
La Coyota Cemetery - twenty-two graves, well-erected tombs but in a deteriorating condition.
Loc: about two miles west of the Castolón/La Harmonia site. Park safely along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive at the expanded pavement parking area. The cemetery is situated about one-hundred yards west of the parking area and can be seen by looking toward Santa Elena Canyon. Graves at this cemetery are different from those found in most area graveyards.
La Noria Cemetery - fifteen observable graves, very bad condition.
La Noria (old Boquillas) - is situated four miles above Park Road 118 west of the Old Ore Road. Use a compass at campsite post no. "LN2" and chart a line at 90 degrees (east). Walk along that azimuth for about 300 yards and you will find what remains of the graveyard. This camposanto is difficult to see because it is situated in a draw rather than on a high point.
Luna Jacal - unknown number of burials. Unable to note condition as no graves were visible. We were informed by the park archeologist that there had been gravesites at this place at one time but that they had been allowed to disappear.
Loc: 6.1 miles south of the northern entrance to the Maverick Road.
Mariscal Mine Cemetery - nine to twelve graves, all in poor condition.
Loc: north across the road from the old mine works. Cross the River Road on foot near where the road curves back to pass the mountain. There are several old wood-frame shack ruins on the north side of the road. (These are said to have been cribs used by prostitutes who served the mining camps.) Continue on past the shacks toward a white ridge that juts out toward Mariscal mountain. Walk to the right of this ridge (do not attempt to follow the dim old road that leads off between the two points) and the cemetery is located nearby. These graves are covered with white lajitas-style rocks.
Panteón Las Tres Negritas - eight graves visible. Very bad condition, however the wooden crosses were upright when we last visited on October 3, 1998. This cemetery, which sits on a small low ridge along Tornillo Creek, is in severe jeopardy and may have already been lost.
Loc: probably the remotest cemetery in the BBNP, Las Tres Negritas is situated about five miles ESE of the BBNP Fossil Bone Exhibit (along highway 385). The site must be entered on foot. We went by following the Tornillo Creek drainage down to Black Peaks. The graves are situated where the creek turns sharply to the right just a few hundred yards below Black Peaks on the eastern side of the arroyo.
San Vicente Cemetery - thirty-seven graves visible, stable but uncared for condition.
Loc: Three miles west of Park Road 118 (at the "curved" highway bridge) along the River Road. Searchers must locate a sloping cuesta (hill) four-tenths (.4) mile north of the road. If the lane leading in is blocked due to BBNP duncery one must park safely along the main road and walk in. The cemetery is located on the lee (southern) side of the said cuesta and is easily visible upon approach. There are several above ground false vaults here as well as some interesting ornamentation.
San Vicente Crossing - twenty-nine visible tombs and undoubtedly some that are no longer discernible to the naked eye. Extremely bad condition!
Loc: about one-quarter mile north of the San Vicente Crossing and within view of the old river ford. This cemetery is almost gone.
Solis Ranch Site grave - single grave, average condition.
Loc: Turn south off the River Road on the "Solis" Road then watch for the stone-covered barrow at about a quarter mile on the right. It is situated atop a low ridge.
Terlingua Abaja(o) - twenty-two graves, some reasonably well maintained.
Loc: cross Terlingua Creek at the old Abajo ruins. The graveyard is located one-half mile south of the large white rock house (ruins) on two small promontories and is visible at a distance.
Unknown Name Gravesite - one grave,
Loc: 4.7 miles south of Park Road 118 along the Maverick Road, west side of road about two dozen yards off the right of way.
End of list.
The authors make no claim to having found all of the cemeteries and gravesites within the confines of the BBNP. We are however still looking and we welcome other information and suggestions. Please relay your comments to us at (Gerald Raun) 1005 West Stockton Street, Alpine, TX 79830 or to Glenn Willeford at Post Office Box 3413, Presidio, TX 79845- 3413.