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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1977)
w$ ommunity graveyard is forgotten y trot ‘ )e 't Him -uero, Tei ar s ago in) - ^'uerooi merit witj; By FRANK k. vasovski have fought a good fight l(ive finished my course ta ve kept the faith Inscription on a grave marker e d Hill Cemetery on Sandy Point Road near Bryan. ie Red Hill Cemetery is located ■t eight miles west of Bryan at junction of FM 1687 (Sandy (Road) and Pleasant Hill Road, ent to a large gravel pit and the road from the Bryan city will matcl ie ^ is P osa r re ?‘ if f ■ consists of three clusters of les, most of them in an advanced 1 L of deterioration, surrounded CKCt [grove of oak trees. Some of the Ie markers are torn down, others wrgesaml [till well preserved. Whentk L oldest identifiable grave is s beganai [d 1889 and the most recent he barge I. The elaborate tombstones and lutWit I hauntingly beautiful inscrip- ion Lod I seem to indicate that the burial containe iwas established as a permanent Ing place for the members of an ■rly community. et, there is no evidence of any ?off munity near the cemetery, ex- ' ^ a few isolated houses scattered r Shutlf avvide area ' Oct.li George Newton of Sandy Point Road, a black retired farmer living near the cemetery, identified it as “a burial site for the white folks of the Pleasant Hill Community.” Newton said some of their relatives were still living “somewhere on Burt Lane,” approximately three to four miles northwest of the cemetery. The county death register in the Brazos County Clerk’s office in Bryan contains no entries for Red Hill Cemetery. Files at the County Tax Assessor-Collector office show the burial site is located near the boun dary line between two tracts of land, one belonging to Pearlee L. Hall of Bryan and the other to William A. Faubion of Houston. Hall acknowledged that a gravel pit “was located on her property next to the graveyard” but said she did not know the identity of the per sons buried in that graveyard. Faubion confirmed the fact that the gravel pit was located at the northwest edge of his tract. T bought that land approximately 10 years ago and I have no idea who the people are that are buried there,” Fauubion said, “but I intend to look into this matter during my “d in Hoii >7.6 million: 11, that ski mysteriol vate hosi sion. "Jol (Joan) kejili u Id call ventilation .'ity, Mu., n properly >pen, Rov /. “It has were se el the city ol officials > re vent an us Bureau >f inflation of persons ie median cent over ;,8I5, (the g 902,000 next visit to Bryan.” The current County Commis sioner of Precinct 4, W. A. Stasny, said that Pleasant Hill Community was dissolved in 1930. He said the community’s cemetery is now lo cated on private property and the the current owner could decide to level the place and build something on it. “This, of course, would be the end of the Red Hill Cemetery,” Stasny said. Stasny’s predecessor, Clyde J. Porterfield of Bryan, was not availa ble but his wife provided some of the missing information on Pleasant Hill Community. "The original settlers living around the Red Hill Cemetery were members of the Pleasant Hill Com munity,” Porterfield said. "We called them Goobers’ because the soil in the area was too poor to grow cotton and they often planted peanuts.” Mrs. Fred Luther of Bryan is also familiar with the community and its cemetery. She said she believed the original settlers came from Tennes see many years ago. “We used to clean and beautify the graveyard every year in the spring, but because of the dissolu tion of the community and the dis persal of the relatives, there is no body now strong enough to care for the graveyard,” Luther said. She said that she hoped a patriotic or ganization, such as Daughters of the American Revolution, could assume custody of the cemetery. Mrs. Gus Bade of Bryan is also familiar with the community and the cemetery. She recalled that “in 1960 or around that time, the gravel pit near the graveyard was closed by the county authorities because human bones were frequently dug up with the gravel.” Roy Foster, of Bryan, said digging around the graveyard was stopped by the county authorities because of the proximity of the graves. “After the voters decided in 1932 to join the Bryan Independent School District, the Pleasant Hill Community began to dissolve,” Foster said. The community school, or Parker School as it was then called, was closed and the majority of people left the community for Bryan and other towns. Jane A. Fuschak of Smetana and Francis E. Mosley of Burt Lane are granddaughters of W. J. Burt who is buried in the Red Hill Cemetery. They are the last members of the Pleasant Hill Community still living in the area. They recall the time when not only Pleasant Hill but many other communities such as Riverside, Rye, Parker and Thompson Creek were flourishing in the area until the government decided to consolidate the school districts. "Some people moved out to another location, some sold their land and lost contact with each other,” Fuschak said. “Those left behind, like us,” Fus chak continued, “are getting older with each day. There are not enough of us to take care of the cemetery as we used to do in the past.” Mrs. Steven D. Pearce of Bryan was about four years old when she left the community, but has re turned many times for short visits. She described the community as “a group of hard working people, try ing to eke out their existence of a very poor soil.” The life span of most people buried in the cemetery seems to bear out her observation. More than half of them died before age 35. “They operated self-supporting farms producing their own food and other necessities,” Pearce said. None of these people have any so lutions to the future of Red Hill Cemetery. Most felt that it should be restored to a status comparable to other cemeteries to preserve a valuable link to the past. MSC CAMERA COMMITTEE FALL PHOTO CONTEST • ANY SIZE PHOTO ON AN 11 x 14 MAT • ENTRIES OPEN SEPT. 29, 1977 AND CLOSE OCT. 6, 1977 AT 5 P.M. IN THE M.S.C. LOBBY. COST II 50c PER PRINT • PRINTS WILL BE JUDGED SAT., OCT. 8, 1977 • FOR MORE INFO. CALL: 5-5866 or 5-5357 • CATEGORIES: SPORTS NATURE STILL LIFE I PICTORIAL HUMAN INTEREST CANDID PORTRAITURE FORMAL PORTRAITURE ARCHITECTURE EXPERIMENTAL / m , c OPEN MON.-FRI. 9:30-9:30 • SAT. 9:00-9:30 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1977 AGGIES! [ Douglas Jewelry offers Student ID Discounts! 15% off of $ 50 00 or more 10% off of under $ 50 00 CASH PURCHASE ONLY We reserve the right to regulate the use of this privilege. 212 N. MAIN 822-3119 DOWNTOWN BRYAN MAKE FREE TIME PAY OFF Earn Extra Cash As A Blood Plasma Donor At: PLASMA PRODUCTS, INC. OF TEXAS 313 COLLEGE MAIN in Northgate College Station, Texas Relax or study in our comfortable beds while you donate — Great Atmosphere — Trained employ ees. Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 Bring this coupon and receive $2 Bonus on your first donation. Effective 'til Oct. 30, 1977. Call 846-4611 WED., THURS., FRI., SAT. Moss covers this tombstone marking a 74-year-old grave in |he forgotten Red Hill Cemetery eight miles west of Bryan. [These weather-beaten markers are the only reminder of the lost community of Pleasant Hill. Battalion photo by Frank Vasovski g Palesti- state will “If they elegation ined in a ■ Geneva ilestinian lestinian the 1975 jening of e NATO Western Moscow in prison BlJuFifcraf Bonnet v l. Patch You are invited to a special showing of Photographic Art b y Richard Gunn at The Bluebonnet Patch 816 Villa Maria Road in Bryan October 8 through 15, 1977 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; Open house with Mr. Gunn on October 8, 1977. nday on [ custody ibed her d told a rder the 2700 TEXAS AVE., SOUTH