Fleetwood Store & Family Cemetery - Near Terral, OK
N 33° 53.656 W 097° 50.347
14S E 607340 N 3751039
An Oklahoma Centennial Committee marker stands near a pasture gate at Fleetwood Cemetery. This is an abandoned cemetery, long inactive, located on N 2890 Road just south of its intersection with E 2150 Road in the ghost town of Fleetwood, OK.
Waymark Code: WMQZC9
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 04/18/2016
Views: 4
This cemetery is one of three sites that make up the remains of Fleetwood, OK. Please be considerate of the rights of the property owners when visiting, and note that the cemetery, protected by a fence, is out in the middle of a pasture in a grove of trees. Don't bother the cattle -- visit the cemetery on a day when they're not hanging around by the fence -- although they might be happy to see you while you stand by the fence and look out towards where the cattle used to cross the Red River southeast of here at Red River Station during the days of the Chisholm Trail.
Findagrave (
visit link) could use some research and cleanup, as they list duplicates of several of the graves, and one possible footstone (E.M.C.) actually being identified as a headstone. The cemetery is grown over, and there are only five visible headstones, those of Houston Fleetwood, Emily Fleetwood (his wife), Ella May Coffey (their daughter), David Colbert, and Houston Colbert. Behind Mr. Fleetwood's grave marker is an old marble base that says "Fleetwood" on it, possibly his earlier headstone or one for an unidentified Fleetwood family member. If there are more grave markers, they are covered by long grass and old logs from trees that have fallen.
The marker placed by the Oklahoma Centennial Committee shows a Chisholm Trail map, and features an inset with a photo of a store on the Buffalo Ranch, a store similar to the one that Mr. Fleetwood built:
Fleetwood Store & Family Cemetery
Two miles to the southwest, the cattle road crossed the Red River at Red River Station and passed here as it climbed out of the Red River Valley and headed to the northwest on its way to Abilene and other points off the trail. By the late 1870's or early 1880's, the Fleetwood family established a store (similar to the one pictured above in 1867) at this site to sell to drovers and other travelers. Local tradition says the Fleetwoods tired of the noise and commotion and moved the store ¾ mile west where it grew into a small community that survived into the 1930's. More likely, traffic declined by the mid 1880's and the Fleetwoods moved to a better location. All that remains today is the family cemetery located in the grove of trees visible a hundred yards to the east.
(Image: Courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society)
Oklahoma '07 Centennial