Mays Cemetery
Take US Hwy 79 S (southwest) from Henderson for 2-3 miles. Turn left (south) onto FM 839 for 10.7 miles. Left onto County Road 4221 and go 1 mile. Cemetery is on right.Marker Text
This pioneer burial ground served the New Salem Community. In the 1850s, the settlement
had a stagecoach stop, post office and the New Salem Academy. The Mays and Swink families
of Madison Co., Tennessee were among the early settlers. John Mandeville Mays owned the
land where the cemetery was established, sited between Quinn Mountain and the Angelina
River. Tradition states that two slaves were the first to be buried here. Two-year-old
Mary S. C. Swink died in 1856, and hers is the oldest marked grave. Among the burials are
veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. Marble and granite headstones are
prominent, and historic plantings include jonquils and crepe myrtle trees. A cemetery
association formed in the 1930s. Historic Texas Cemetery-2006.