Living History of Oak Grove Cemetery
NACOGDOCHES- On Saturday, May 4, 2013, the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, Inc. and the City of Nacogdoches Historic Sites Department will host the 1st annual Living History of Oak Grove Cemetery Tour. Oak Grove Cemetery was first established circa 1837, and it was later designated as a Historic Texas Cemetery by the Texas Historical Commission. Among those buried there are soldiers, four signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a number of local citizens, all of whom helped shape East Texas.
This event will highlight eight prominent families and individuals who lived in Nacogdoches and helped establish the City we know today. Costumed interpreters will portray the lives of Thomas J. Rusk, Eva Sterne and Kelsey H. Douglass, just to name a few, and talk about “their” lives. In addition to learning about the lives of these people, tour guides will talk about significant marker shapes, motifs and symbols representing fraternal organizations, religious iconography and personal interests on the headstones.
Both the Historic Sites Department and the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, Inc. hope to make this an annual event, wherein they will give back to the community by cleaning the headstones of the individuals they portray for the tour. All funds raised by this event will be used to build and preserve the “bricks and mortar” portions of Nacogdoches history. For instance, the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches will use the funds to help with projects, such as the creation of the statues around town, the annual Christmas Tour of Homes and any other events that come their way.
The event will be held May 4th with tours beginning at 1:00pm. Tickets will be sold the day of the event across from the main entrance to the cemetery on Lanana Street. Tours will take place every 15 minutes with each lasting approximately one hour. Tickets will be $10 with children under 10 years old being free. We hope to see everyone and look forward to sharing this important look into the history of Nacogdoches. For more information, please contact Assistant Historic Sites Manager, Jessica Sowell at 936-560-4441 or by email at [email protected]