The first meeting of the proposed Woodland Cemetery Association was held last Thursday evening at the Navarro County Times.

Local historian and archeologist Bill Young was the main speaker and presented the group with much needed information concerning cemeteries.

Young said to his knowledge and through research there are no physical maps of Woodland Cemetery, and if there was one in the beginning, it has been lost.

“There are a lot of unmarked graves,” Young told the group, “especially in the older part of the cemetery.”

Many of those graves are marked with only a stone, or piece of a rock.

Young suggested for the group to get in contact with the Texas Historical Society about information on starting up a cemetery association, and with the material they can provide will definitely be a start in the right direction.

Young also talked about some of the African-American cemeteries that were nearly destroyed or lost in the Dallas area due to freeway and highway expansion, and housing developments.

Of course, at the present time, Woodland isn’t close to being in that type of danger, but the erosion of Post Oak Creek, which borders the southern edge of the cemetery, is starting to pose a problem.  The north bank of the creek continues to cut into the property where some of the older gravesites are located.

At least 350 plus men and women who served in the military, or lost their lives for their country, are buried in Woodland, as well as several notable individuals who were well known in the African-American community such as Reverend Z.T. Pardee.

Pardee was instrumental in helping to establish African-American schools in Corsicana, and also served as a teacher and school board trustee.

He was also the first African-American moderator for the Baptist Friendship Association.

The next scheduled meeting is planned for July 24, 2008, site as yet to be determined, but for anyone interested in attending please feel free to drop in.

---