ANAHUAC CEMETERY

Also known as Delta Area Community Cemetery

LOCATION: 1.5 miles north of Edcouch, on Mile 18 North and Mile 4 West. one half mile north of FM 1925 (Monte Cristo Road). Approached by Cemetery Road.

HISTORY: In the early 1940s, Mrs. Engelman, wife of the citrus promoter of nearby Engelman Gardens west of Edcouch, donated four acres to be used as a cemetery for poor people in the Delta Lake area of Elsa, Edcouch, Hargill and the now defunct Engelman Gardens. Her grantees were Rafael Saldaña (now 94 years old), and the late Mssrs. Hinojosa, Rios, and Carreon of Edcouch-Elsa. A local Woodmen of the World Chapter named it Anahuac (a-NA-wok), a Nauhautl word meaning "land by the water" and signifying ancient Central Mexico.

The unfenced cemetery, originally 300x400’. now comprises 10-12 acres. Plots are available to local families for a nominal fee, or without charge to indigents bringing a waiver from a local church.

Mr. Saldaña and his friend Juan Garcia oversee maintenance, which depends on fees collected. The City of Edcouch occasionally provides help and the County Commissioner of Precinct 1 sends mowing machinery to clear open areas. Workers are employed to mow around monuments. Some families clear their own plots and a "Family Day" is held periodically for church and civic groups and individual volunteers who help provide cemetery care.