New Bethlehem Cemetery

This burial ground has served area residents since the early 20th century. By that time, many families had moved near the Conroe-Cleveland and Willis-Waukegan crossroads; the community they organized would later be named Cut and Shoot. In 1912, Annie Amelia Peel, the widow of Thomas J. Peel, allowed residents to construct a building, called the community school and meeting house, on her property. She later conveyed property for the building and for a cemetery to New Hope Baptist Church. The burial ground, which was later associated with New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, was not used at first because it lacked a fence to keep animals out; residents used other nearby cemeteries instead. By the 1930s, community members began to use this cemetery because area flooding blocked roads to other grave sites.

The first individual buried here was Evalyn A. Davis Kelley (d. 1934); several others were also interred that year. Residents soon erected a fence to enclose the cemetery. Since that time, the cemetery has grown in size, and with hundreds of burials, has functioned as the main graveyard for Cut and Shoot residents. Among those interred here are community leaders, veterans of military conflicts and area pioneers. In 2000, a cemetery association organized to maintain the grounds. Today, New Bethlehem Cemetery continues to serve the area, while also remaining as a testament to the men and women who founded the cut and shoot community.

Historic Texas Cemetery – 2007.