Volunteers who led the restoration of Conroe Community Cemetery have begun a long-term effort to restore New Home Cemetery near Willis, a historic African American burial ground dating back to the 1860s and tied to a former Freedom Colony.
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After restoring the historic Conroe Community Cemetery, a dedicated group of volunteers has been rebuilding New Home Cemetery near Willis over several years—a post-Civil War African American burial cemetery.
Dellissa Foote, whose great-grandparents are at New Home Cemetery, requested the project. In May, she asked restoration leaders whether they would consider the site, as Conroe is in maintenance mode.
“The cemetery required significant attention,” said Conroe Community Cemetery Restoration Project president John Meredith. He described vines, thick underbrush, and fallen trees hiding graves and countless “toppled,” buried, or broken headstones.
According to Find A Grave, New Home Cemetery in Twin Shores near Lake Conroe has at least 204 burials. From 1860 to 2024, burials occurred. Recently buried is Eddie Ruth Lagway, a municipal and Willis ISD advocate who died in 2012. She has a Willis school named after her.
Meredith said the volunteer group can start the New Home project now that the Conroe repair is stable. Despite this, he expects the cleanup at New Home to take at least two years and has opted not to proceed with any additional restoration work.
Meredith noted that the cemetery was associated with the historic New Home neighborhood, a largely neglected African American Freedom Colony founded post-emancipation. As volunteers began their study, the settlement was located near Goldthwaite Plantation, where early settlers may have lived before the Civil War.
Historical records indicate that early inhabitants, including Sol Johnson Sr., Washington Miles, and Joe Williams, signed crop-mortgage contracts in the 1870s. Their ancestors acquired 1,250 acres, creating the New Home hamlet, which included two churches, a school, and a cemetery.
Tree and brush clearing began this summer, while relatives of families buried at the cemetery worked with volunteers this fall. The Straughter, Clark, Milo, Johnson, Stoneham, Martin, and Gales families are involved. Cleanup begins January 10.
Meredith stressed that headstone restoration is only part of the purpose. He said the larger objective is to tell the story of how former slave families built a self-sustaining community during Reconstruction and Jim Crow.
New Home is being considered for a Montgomery County Historical Marker, Texas Freedom Colony status, and signage.
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