Chapel Hill Cemetery

The first recorded burial here is for Able Allison Lewis, a veteran of the American Revolution, in 1838. Oral tradition identifies his widow, Patsey Lewis, as giving land along El Camino Real for a public graveyard after his death. She and several of her family members are buried in the cemetery. These and other burials of the 1830s and 1840s are oriented north-south, several marked with slabs of hewn native rock. Other early burials include Dr. Samuel Thompson and his wife, Precious Wofford Thompson; and Sumner Bacon, an ordained Cumberland Presbyterian Minister who served as chaplain and courier for Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. Veterans of conflicts dating to the American Revolution are interred here, with several having fought in the Texas Revolution and the Indian Wars of the 1830s. Gravestone materials include native stone, marble, granite and cement. Familiar names here include Fussell, Johnson, Layfield, Noble, Rhodes, Smith and Williams.

In 1912, the cemetery expanded to the west through land bought from B. B. Fussell. Chapel Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was located on the property and served the community for many years. The entire community helped with donations, materials and labor to build a new church building in 1937. Chapel Hill continued to prosper as a rural community with cotton as the main crop until World War II, when most residents left for combat or war industries such as the shipyards in Beaumont. The community cotton gin closed after the war, and the church discontinued services in the 1990s. The Chapel Hill Cemetery Association maintains the graveyard and church building. The cemetery remains active and continues to serve the area while also serving as a chronicle of community history.

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