Piney cemetery, located in the Piney Community about 9 miles North of Mt. Pleasant, is a large public cemetery serving Titus County's African-American populace. As traditional in most Titus County Cemeteries, a Decoration Day service is held annually on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May.
Piney Cemetery is composed of about 3 distinct sections. The old section lies on the southern bank of a dry creek bed. The intermediate aged section is South of an asphalt road that divides the two, and the third and newest section rests North of the dry creek bed on a hilltop. Piney has many unmarked graves as is characteristic of early Titus County cemeteries. Some unmarked graves can be detected by the major earth depressions left when the grave collapses.
Other evidences of grave locations were found as indicated by following examples. There were 31 graves marked by flowers only, 13 by flowers placed beside a native stone and 8 by flowers placed beside a funeral home marker (FHM). Three graves are marked by a combination of a FHM and a native stone. Thirty six graves are marked by unreadable FHMs. There are at least 96 graves marked with plain native stone and an additional 7 are marked with pieces of petrified wood. An attempt was made to identify some of the remaining gravesites with the following results: 2 pieces of broken concrete, 6 concrete slabs, 3 concrete blocks at one grave, 4 concrete piers, 3 concrete blocks, a 1 foot square concrete block, a 1 foot diameter circular block, and a large concrete structure of a hollow molded shape with holes and slots. Significant to identifying some of the interred were the following: a FHM beside a concrete block that has "Bud Hines" inscribed, a concrete block with "---- Simms" discernable, a concrete slab with "Alver ----" discernable, a double monument with only Estella Aug 18, 1887 and Ross Jan. 14, 1914, an overturned monument lying face, down, a monument base with the monument missing, a concrete encased grave with no inscription, a concrete slab with a painted unreadable inscription, and a concrete cross with an unreadable inscription. The remaining anomalous markers include: 2 mortared brick columns, a concrete form shaped as a log, a mortared tile form, and a crockery pot.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM THE TITUS COUNTY COURTHOUSE:
Travel 1.5 miles North on Jefferson Street (US 271). You will cross Interstate Highway 30 at 1.4 miles. Immediately after crossing the Interstate 30 overpass, turn right onto FM 2152 and proceed north for 6.1 miles to the intersection of Titus County Road 1670 (from the right ). Turn right onto County Road 1670. After 1.6 miles, County Road 1680 intersects from the left. Turn left onto County Road 1680 and after 0.6 mile the cemetery will be on the right side of the road.
