Honoring Unknown Graves - Oakwood Cemetery, Huntsville, TX, USA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

A large number of sunken, unmarked graves were revealed in 2004 when this area was cleared of heavy underbrush by a carefully selected and supervised crew averaging 10 offenders from the Huntsville Walls Unit. These men were permitted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to perform community service at Oakwood Cemetery.

Some of the graves were likely those of slaves who arrived in Huntsville area with early settlers. Others could have died during the yellow fever epidemic that claimed many Huntsville victims and the summer and fall of 1867. Ground-penetrating radar testing in 2013 indicated later graves dating perhaps to the 1950s.

Among the burials within the newly cleared area were eight graves marked with small headstones made of white marble. Remnants of a similar number of broken markers handcrafted from shells and concrete were also present. Some gravesites might have been outlined or otherwise indicated by rocks, stones, wood, or other material long-ago scattered or completely disintegrated.

Since identification was not possible, the offender crew members themselves suggested the use of unlettered white concrete crosses identical to those found in Huntsville TDCJ Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery to mark the graves of prisoners whose remains are unclaimed, or whose family cannot afford internment at other locations. The inmates idea received an immediate approval, and the cooperation of the TDCJ was a obtained promptly. Material cost were shared between the City of Huntsville and TDCJ, and production of the crosses took place at the Walls Unit.

Soon afterward, the Oakwood Cemetery offender crew installed the 155 crosses that now lend dignity to the final resting places of these unknown black residents of Huntsville.

Group that erected the marker: City of Huntsville Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Oaklawn Cemetery Huntsville, TX USA 77320 URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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