Shelby County Texas

The information on this site is taken from the book "Shelby County, In The East Texas Hills"
By Charles Edward Tatum, and is used with his permission.

    The Ballard Cemetery is completely swallowed by the thicket.   So dense is the thicket that it can be penetrated only at one's own peril.  We liked the solitude in the East Texas Hills as we gestured around.  We trampled over mud and tree stumps on the path.  Road clearances show that traffic was once much heavier. We walked under pine trees and over dead pine needles so thick that it appeared that recent rains had caused the good earth to rust.  The beast of the field and fowl of the air are here.  Towering pines, high grass and underbrush and the fear of snakes caused us to carry the usual shovels, hoes and cutting knives.  Coils of barbed wire which may have once surrounded this burial ground lay buried in the soil.

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