Letter to the Editor #19 (Abandoned Cemetery Edition)
(A reader who has a personal connection with the abandoned cemetery I posted Monday sent me this comment. It’s too interesting not to post. As a teaser, I’ll have a special Saturday post tomorrow called, “Last Minute Costume Ideas 2009.” Click here for the 2008 list. Until tomorrow, enjoy a bit of Oklahoma history.)
Dear Irritated Tulsan,
That’s my old family plot back before they sold it, I believe during the crash.
If you go further into the tree line you might find remains of the houses slab. Eventually the area was taken over by the military and turned into a POW camp in another area which is Grubber.
There is an interesting story behind those graves along with the other graves in the area. Lots of old family plots are in those areas including pioneer plots dating back to 1830s. Pioneers and military families killed while traveling because of disease or other Indian attack.
Most of the graves though are long gone and no longer standing or they have been moved to the national cemetery in Gibson. Sam Houston’s wife a daughter were died in the area and were later moved to Gibson National years later.
Signed,
BigRedNone
Dear Irritated Tulsan,
I read your story on this a few week back and I know where this place is. Because my wife and I have been camping in this State Park for the past four years. If fact we are heading up there tomorrow (11-5). The thing that bothers me on this story is the word “House Slab.” I’m not sure what your reader meant on the word, house slab. All of those tomb stones are dated 1800s. Most houses back then were either dirt or wood floors. So if it was a wood floor it may have been built on rock. I have a Metal Detector and Friday I’m going to look for this slab. If I by some chance I do find it, I will take a picture of it and send you some how. I will check both cemetery since there are two of them. From the looks of your picture it looks like you took it of the older one down the road from the Church.
I thought it was a little odd to so I did a little resaerch. The area was orginally a fort with farmers and pioneers in the area. The Tombstones date to the
late 1800s which is when the area started be settled with more permenet dwelling. The Gibson historical society notes some of the early residents. Most of these early dwelllimg were built out of wood and non concrete floors but stone floors were common. Most of these builing sites have long since been lost though due to overgrowth. Due to the dust bowl most of
it residence left and the federal government took over the area in the 1930s. You would be lucky if you found much of anything now in the woods even with a detector since the houses used stone slab. Though some areas of Gibson still have noticable foundations if you go off the beaten path. Wikipedia has a good article on the history.