Lonesome Dove LbNA #15671
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Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jun 8, 2005 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Southlake |
| County: | Tarrant |
| State: | Texas |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Planted by: | Viewfinder  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | Basketcase1 |
| Last found: | Oct 12, 2012 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Jun 8, 2005 |
New LB container, new logbook, original stamp. Previous lb container had been left open and container and open baggies filled with water; logbook soaked! Please reseal baggies and box carefully. Thanks!
Lonesome Dove Cemetery is an old cemetery located in the northeast section of Southlake, Texas, south of Lake Grapevine. Tradition says that organization of the church adjoining the cemetery took place while a dove gave its lonesome call. The church, established in 1846 (the year Texas became a state), was the first Baptist church west of the Trinity River. The cemetery contains more than one hundred fieldstone and illegible sandstone marked graves, including those of early Tarrant County pioneers, several among the first elected officials from 1850. At least two of those buried in this cemetery were born in the 1700’s. The church served as a recruiting point during the Civil War; soldiers of the Confederacy and the U.S. and Daughters of the American Revolution are among those buried here. A granite monument in front of the church gives the original constituents and its organizational history. After seeing a church bus with the name Lonesome Dove painted on the side, Larry McMurtry used the name for his Pulitzer-prize winning novel. In this quiet place, listen for the call of the lonesome dove.
To reach Lonesome Dove Cemetery, exit Hwy 114 just west of Grapevine on Kimball Ave. and go north 1.2 mile to Dove Rd. Turn west on Dove Rd. for .8 of a mile to Lonesome Dove Ave. Turn north and watch for the church and cemetery on the left. (When this box was originally placed in spring, 2005, the little church and cemetery were pretty much in the country. Now, not so much!)
To find the Lonesome Dove letterbox, park and enter the cemetery at the small gate.
Walk quietly and respectfully among the old tombstones and read the inscriptions as you go. On the June morning I planted this letterbox, two old men in straw western hats entered the cemetery with flowers to place on a grave and sat quietly talking next to the grave for several minutes as mockingbirds sang all around us.
Immediately in front of you as you enter the gate is a curbed plot with a large crape myrtle. Inside this plot find the small stone of Willie Ada, engraved with the winged dove. From this stone, take a compass bearing of 340 and (sidestepping the tombstones), walk about 30 steps to the sad marker for Ethan Cole Johnson, whose birth and death is recorded in minutes. From this stone, walk about 14 steps at 320 degrees, just past the large old cedar tree to a marker for Jarret L.and Malinda Foster. He was the last surviving member of the Missouri Colony settlers. Continue for 30 steps at 320 degrees to a large white Woodmen of the World tree trunk monument. With your back to this monument, look to the East for the monument memorializing Ambrose and Susan Foster, both born in the 1700’s. Now go around to the West side of the tree trunk monument and take 7 steps to a small square marker on the ground with these numbers in the corners: 13, 8, 7, 12. From this marker, walk West for 45 steps toward a large brown tree trunk monument, and stop at another small square marker in the ground with these numbers in the corners: 7, 6, 12, 11. Take 5 steps in the direction of the 7, and you will discover the almost hidden marker for Solomon Cate. Walk toward the South for about 70 steps to a row of Berrys. Find the fifth Berry from the right (next to the one with the picture), and look directly East for the small stone for Calvin Speer, b. 1842, d. 1890. This one has a Masonic emblem engraved on the stone. Next to Calvin Speer, almost hidden in the shrub and tree next to your left is the marker for Alice Elizabeth Speer. The engraving on the front of her tombstone is almost hidden by the shrub, as is the treasure you seek.
This cemetery is well-tended and still has burials, so please reseal and replace the letterbox very carefully. Be sure it isn’t visible to a groundskeeper or visitor.
Please email me at blhjrh@aol.com to let me know the status of this box.
Lonesome Dove Cemetery is an old cemetery located in the northeast section of Southlake, Texas, south of Lake Grapevine. Tradition says that organization of the church adjoining the cemetery took place while a dove gave its lonesome call. The church, established in 1846 (the year Texas became a state), was the first Baptist church west of the Trinity River. The cemetery contains more than one hundred fieldstone and illegible sandstone marked graves, including those of early Tarrant County pioneers, several among the first elected officials from 1850. At least two of those buried in this cemetery were born in the 1700’s. The church served as a recruiting point during the Civil War; soldiers of the Confederacy and the U.S. and Daughters of the American Revolution are among those buried here. A granite monument in front of the church gives the original constituents and its organizational history. After seeing a church bus with the name Lonesome Dove painted on the side, Larry McMurtry used the name for his Pulitzer-prize winning novel. In this quiet place, listen for the call of the lonesome dove.
To reach Lonesome Dove Cemetery, exit Hwy 114 just west of Grapevine on Kimball Ave. and go north 1.2 mile to Dove Rd. Turn west on Dove Rd. for .8 of a mile to Lonesome Dove Ave. Turn north and watch for the church and cemetery on the left. (When this box was originally placed in spring, 2005, the little church and cemetery were pretty much in the country. Now, not so much!)
To find the Lonesome Dove letterbox, park and enter the cemetery at the small gate.
Walk quietly and respectfully among the old tombstones and read the inscriptions as you go. On the June morning I planted this letterbox, two old men in straw western hats entered the cemetery with flowers to place on a grave and sat quietly talking next to the grave for several minutes as mockingbirds sang all around us.
Immediately in front of you as you enter the gate is a curbed plot with a large crape myrtle. Inside this plot find the small stone of Willie Ada, engraved with the winged dove. From this stone, take a compass bearing of 340 and (sidestepping the tombstones), walk about 30 steps to the sad marker for Ethan Cole Johnson, whose birth and death is recorded in minutes. From this stone, walk about 14 steps at 320 degrees, just past the large old cedar tree to a marker for Jarret L.and Malinda Foster. He was the last surviving member of the Missouri Colony settlers. Continue for 30 steps at 320 degrees to a large white Woodmen of the World tree trunk monument. With your back to this monument, look to the East for the monument memorializing Ambrose and Susan Foster, both born in the 1700’s. Now go around to the West side of the tree trunk monument and take 7 steps to a small square marker on the ground with these numbers in the corners: 13, 8, 7, 12. From this marker, walk West for 45 steps toward a large brown tree trunk monument, and stop at another small square marker in the ground with these numbers in the corners: 7, 6, 12, 11. Take 5 steps in the direction of the 7, and you will discover the almost hidden marker for Solomon Cate. Walk toward the South for about 70 steps to a row of Berrys. Find the fifth Berry from the right (next to the one with the picture), and look directly East for the small stone for Calvin Speer, b. 1842, d. 1890. This one has a Masonic emblem engraved on the stone. Next to Calvin Speer, almost hidden in the shrub and tree next to your left is the marker for Alice Elizabeth Speer. The engraving on the front of her tombstone is almost hidden by the shrub, as is the treasure you seek.
This cemetery is well-tended and still has burials, so please reseal and replace the letterbox very carefully. Be sure it isn’t visible to a groundskeeper or visitor.
Please email me at blhjrh@aol.com to let me know the status of this box.