Youree Chapel and Scott Cemetery - Part 1

A few weeks ago when returning from a shopping trip to Shreveport, Louisiana, I took a small detour off I-20 near Marshall, Texas, in search of the Scott Cemetery, which I had read about on a website called texasescapes.com.  I followed the directions I found on Google maps meticulously but was unable to locate the historic burial ground.  Upon returning home I went back to the Internet and decided I had been in the right place all along but maybe the small church and family cemetery must have been hidden by woods, because how could one be in the right place and not see monuments like the ones pictured below.

Last week I returned to the area in search of the cemetery and still could not find it!  I finally flagged down a motorist on a small farm to market road who at first seemed to be totally confused as to what I was talking about.  He finally remembered a small cemetery a couple miles back from where I had come so I backtracked, made a left-hand turn instead of a right and literally stumbled upon this masterpiece!

The Scott and Rose families joined each other in marriage prior to their arrival in Texas in 1840.  They later were joined by the Yourees, Austins, and Randolphs.  The repetition of names in the cemetery can be very confusing to all but genealogists or family members.  They were obviously a family who remembered their dead monumentally.

The centerpiece of the cemetery is the weeping angel at the grave of William Scott Youree, erected in 1904 at a cost of a reported $40,000.  It is considered to be the most artistic creation of sculptor Frank Teich.  It is ten feet tall and is carved from Carrera marble.

There are four other known weeping angels in Texas cemeteries.  As you can see this one has sustained damage to both arms, the work of vandals!  It's twin in Houston's Glenwood Cemetery has suffered the same vandalism to the left arm and authorities are keeping a close eye on the statue and as of yet it has retained the right arm.

Above is the huge tomb that marks the gravesite of Henry Hudson Youree.  The grieving angel can be seen in the background.  The afternoon I was there the temperatures were below freezing and winds were brisk.  I only had on a light-weight coat so I really could not comfortably stay longer than about 20 minutes.  I'm determined to return however to capture more of the beautiful tombstones and the 50-foot memorial to the Confederate soldier which marks the entrance to the cemetery.  It is larger than most Confederate monuments found in courthouses throughout the South.

I have another post planned for tomorrow with more pictures of this one-of-a-kind cemetery which some say is one of the most beautiful in Texas.  I don't know how many graves are resident but I would estimate somewhere perhaps around 200 so it is fairly small as cemeteries go.  It is definitely a breathtaking site.