Historic Cemetery

Pettus African American Cemetery

a.k.a. Cook-Barnett

Pettus, Texas
Location: In Pettus on Hwy 181, go east on FM 623 .1 mile to South Milam Street go .2 miles (road turns to gravel at .1 mile) to driveway of Tracey and George Ray. Follow gravel driveway east to house. Cemetery is located just SE of house. Continue past house to barbed wire fence. Follow fenceline south about 100 yards to gate, passing the anglo cemetery on the east side of the fence. The African American cemetery is located on south side of gate. Only one grave is visible and has fieldstone curbing.George McCarty remembered coming to funerals here as a child and said that there are about 10 graves here and that many of the stones were destroyed in the past. Mr. McCarty recalls that Hills, Blackwells, and Pullums were buried here. They were all African American.Little is known about this site and Mr. McCarty has not been able to locate any information about those buried here.

Source: RIP Fields Table

To address the problem of cemetery destruction and to record as many cemeteries as possible, the Texas Historical Commission offers the Historic Texas Cemetery designation.

The Historic Texas Cemetery designation was developed in 1998 to help protect historic cemeteries by recording cemetery boundaries in county deed records to alert present and future owners of land adjacent to the cemetery of its existence. Every county in Texas has at least one cemetery designated as a Historic Texas Cemetery through this program. The HTC designation is the first step toward preservation of a historic cemetery.

A cemetery is eligible for designation if it is at least 50 years old and is deemed worthy of recognition for its historical associations. The very nature of a cemetery being a landmark of a family’s or community’s presence is considered to validate the criteria of historical associations. Any individual, organization, or agency may submit a request for designation.

gravesites