Pioneers Rest Cemetery: Fort Worth’s oldest cemetery

Pioneers Rest Cemetery: Fort Worth's oldest cemetery

Published on November 09, 2024

Pioneers Rest Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In fact, it is the only cemetery in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with such a designation, and one of only 11 in Texas. It was listed in 2021 and it also has two Texas Historical Commission plaques, a very rare and significant designation for a cemetery.

Why it matters: It remains the oldest historic Fort Worth cemetery, located in the center of the City at 620 Samuels Ave., and is used for public burials of residents of all denominations. There are 1,500 burial sites located on seven acres. Recently, through grants from the Texas Historical Commission, restoration of the main entrance was completed and was critical in maintaining its historic integrity. The association has an active initiative to provide an open green space in the densely populated Uptown Downtown neighborhood.

Go deeper: An all-volunteer, nonprofit association remains committed to not only preserve the cemetery but to share it with the public. The site is open by pedestrian gate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The cemetery's unique educational QR code program has received rave reviews in local newspapers and on television news stations, becoming a model for cemeteries nationwide. Through QR codes, the cemetery is able to tell various stories about the many people that have been buried there, as well as the history of the cemetery. The QR codes are placed throughout the cemetery for visitors to learn more.

Pioneers Rest Cemetery was established in 1850, a year after the military outpost known as Fort Worth was established on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River. It is the oldest historic burial ground in Fort Worth and the only remaining resource from the original fort commanded by Major Ripley Arnold. The cemetery still maintains the graves of two of Arnold's young children and 11 soldiers from the Fort.

The grounds are the final resting place of Fort Worth's earliest pioneers including General Tarrant, for whom the county is named. The cemetery's grave markers reflect mid-19th to early 20th-century sentiments regarding death and mourning through their funerary motifs and Gothic, Egyptian, Classical Revival and Rustic designs.

Volunteers are needed every month for tasks such as cleaning, weeding and planting flowers. Volunteers are also needed to assist with planning and attending the Fall Fest.

Learn more.

Photo at top: Workers erect new gates at the cemetery's main entrance.

Photo above: Grants from the Texas Historical Commission allowed restoration of the main entrance, a project critical in maintaining the cemetery's historic integrity.

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