The Texas Spirit Quest
is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before us.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural communities across Texas. This series will introduce you to many of them. The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries, tombstones and local lore.
UPDATE AS OF 07/04/14: As you will see from the original description below, there has recently been a major change in conditions at this site. Where formerly it was completely overgrown with cedars and scrubby thickets of other prickly vegetation, it has now been mostly cleaned up, with a lot of the growth hacked back. It is still an accidental wildlife refuge--there was a LOT of crashing about in some of the copses in the corners, and deer and rabbits got flushed out as I wandered about. But it is vastly improved from before. However, there are only a few visible grave markers, and their condition is variable. Some are in good shape, some are toppled, some are still hidden in the bushes. Strange, as based on one headstone I saw, this location was still active as of 1999.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: This is NOT to be confused with the "main" Staples Cemetery located some distance away. Indeed, as you can plainly see when present in person, it would be hard to confuse this with a cemetery at all. While the geo-map clearly has this place labeled as a burial site, there is no evidence of such other than the fenced-in area. Nevertheless, it appears that at one time this was where the local African-American cemetery was located. Dutiful transcriptionists trekked out here in 1992, at which time the place was given the unfortunate moniker of Staples Cemetery (Colored). I can find no information about what happened to all the graves after that time. At any rate, there were approximately 50 interments here, ranging from 1895 to 1985. Andersons, Harpers, and Smiths were laid to rest here, among others, including a couple of the semi-ubiquitous Craytons (see Texas Spirit Quest #73: Crayton Cemetery).
The gate is wired shut, but you can easily open it and trot a couple of hundred feet toward the back to where the visible grave sites are located. However, to find the cache there is no need to enter the grounds. As always, any refinements to the listed coordinates are welcomed.