Texas Historical Marker #12819
Whitehouse Cemetery. Whitehouse Cemetery According to local tradition, this cemetery may take its name from the 19th-century Cole family home, a structure whose whitewashed exterior stood out from the majority of other log houses and frame buildings in the area. It lies on what was once a thoroughfare from the former Angelina County Seat of Homer to Crockett, the county seat of neighboring Houston County. Although the oldest marked grave-that of Catherine Wheat Wideman-is from 1893, there are earlier burial sites on the property. Whitehouse Cemetery contains the burials of people who lived and worked in the central part of the county, including early settlers and residents of the area. Family names on the tombstones reflect many who were influential in shaping and organizing Lufkin and Angelina County government and businesses. Among the most significant were the Ganns, who for many years owned the land on which the cemetery is located. In 1934, the Whitehouse Cemetery Association was organized to care for the property. It purchased additional land from the Gann family in 1941. Until the 1960s, all graves were kept clear of vegetation in the traditional "scraped-earth" manner. As a reminder of the people who settled permanently in this part of Angelina County, the Witehouse Cemetery remains a significant part of the area's heritage. (2002) #12819
?, Whitehouse, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #07725
First Baptist Church of Whitehouse. Anglo settlement of this area began in the 1840s. The community of Whitehouse, which grew up around a white painted schoolhouse, began in the early 1850s. A church congregation, called New Hope Church of Christ, Baptist, was organized in September 1869 by Elders J. A. Kindle and W. G. Caperton and about twenty-five charter members. Early worship services were held once a month. In 1887 a plot of land was purchased by New Hope Baptist Church and a one-room sanctuary, nestled in a pine grove, was built by the congregation. After the railroad came through Whitehouse in the 1870s and a central business district began to grow, the church was relocated to the new townsite. A white frame building was erected in 1901, and the name was changed to Whitehouse Baptist Church. In 1923 the church was relocated once again, to a site on East Main Street. At that time it was also renamed First Baptist Church. A new church facility was erected in 1959, and continued growth led to the construction of the present sanctuary in 1980. A part of Smith County history for more than a century, the First #7725
801 E. Main St., Whitehouse, TX, United States