Cemetery: Coontown
Cemetery
Other: Caney Creek Cemetery
Sign: Yes
Street: Private property of: Myra Zickefoose P.O. Box
267 (.2 miles south of junction with county. rod 4015uth on 4020
and .4 miles west)
City: Savoy
Township:
County: Fannin County
State: Texas
Nation: USA
Zip: 75479
Status: Inactive
Size: Large
Directions: 3 miles east of Savoy
Type: Road-private
Location: Rural-mixed
Terrain: Hillside
Watersource: Yes
Features: There are huge trees inside the cemetery
boundaries.
Land Type: Private
Access: Permission-required
Enclosure: Fence
Gate: Non-locking
Established: The oldest remaining headstone is dated 1856.
Many headstones were washed away from from regular flooding from
the nearby creek. One headstone was found in the creek.
Gravestones: approximately 75
Oldest: 1856?
Newest: 1921?
Removed: Yes
Relocated: No
Repairs: Yes
Methods: Other
Restoration: Yes
Association: Yes
Records: Unsure
Inventory: Yes
Records location: "Fannin County Cemetery
Records" Compiled from 1955-1965 by Floy Crandall Hodge and
Published by Hennington-Wolfe City, Texas
Landscaping: No
Paths: No
Trees: Yes
Crypts: No
Fencing: No
Walkways: No
Brickwork: No
Ironwork: No
Sculpture: No
Fountains: No
Roads: No
Buildings: No
Cement:
Granite: Yes
Marble: Yes
Native Stone: Yes
Slate: Unsure
Other Stone: Unsure
Wood: Yes
Materials: Unsure
Architectural: Unsure
Angels: Unsure
Draperies: Unsure
Fraternal: Yes
Hands: Yes
Lambs: Unsure
Monograms: Unsure
Plants: Unsure
Photos: No
Religious: Yes
Scrollwork: Unsure
Urns: Unsure
Other Carvings: Unsure
Condition: Cemetery in danger of destruction
Unmarked: Yes
Broken: Yes
Toppled: Yes
Disintegrating: Yes
Buried: Yes
Weather problems: Yes
Pollution problems: No
Vandalized: No
Overgrowth: Graves-Disturbing
Vegetation: Ground-Cover
Vegetation: Vines
Drainage: Problem-Constant
Problem: Apathy
Owner: Cemetery
Use:
Bordering: Agricultural
Change: Smaller
Reason: Agriculture
Visited: Occasionally
Archeology: No
Habitat: Unknown
Contacted: County Judge, USDA soil conservationist, County
Commissioner, Texas Senator Cain, and Texas Rep. Homer
Surnames
Bettus Blythe Caldwell Carter
Christian Coonrod Deatherage Dooley Dorsey Fowler Gibson Gunter
Haggard Hodges Horne Horsley Hundley Hunt Hutchins Kirkpatrick
Marlow Mahurin Melugin Mullins O'Daniel Ray Roberts Short Stevens
Stogough Taylor Thomson Waldrum Watwood White
Other Information
The Coontown Cemetery Association
formed in June 2000. Since then nearly $10,000 has been raised by
its 50+ membership. The funds were used to survey the cemetery,
clean up the mountain of garbage heaped with a few feet of the
headstones, hire dozier work for erosion control, fence the
cemetery boundaries with a sturdy pipe and wire fence, and add a
12' entry gate and sign. The county has been contacted with help
for a road. An early map indicates there was once a county road to
the cemetery, though it is now obliterated by farm/ranch land. The
USDA county soil conservationist has been contacted about the
creek flooding. A watershed MAY be built upstream and help with
the continual flooding from the nearby creek, but the money is not
available now. No one seems to claim responsibility for fixing the
flooding of this cemetery and the association cannot interfere
with a waterway, such as a creek, even if they had the money. Any
suggestions would be appreciated. We are currently writing to
Congressmen. In the meantime, the creek continues to flood the
cemetery.
Support
Carolyn Sparks, President
Coontown Cemetery
Website Address: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txtannin/coontown.html
Submitted by:
The email address
found below contains an "_" as the second
character. To send email to this person, you must remove the "_"
from the address. Email addresses are displayed in this way so
that marketers cannot intercept them for junk mail purposes.
name: Carolyn Sparks
Email: w_atrbug@gvtc.com
Date: March 27,2002
