Historical Marker: "Colored Graveyard in the Olde Towne of Hearne"

Little is known about the woman whose grave is located right in the middle of a residential street in Hearne, Texas. Hollie Tatnell is simply known to have been born in Texas in 1859 as a slave. After her death at the age of 51, Tatnell was subsequently buried in Hearne's Colored Graveyard in 1911- making her one of the last people be interred in the cemetery, which largely consisted of enslaved and formerly enslaved Black people.

In 1947, local real estate developers decided to purchase a swathe of land that included the graveyard where Tatnell and an unknown number of other individuals were buried. The developers- in order to begin construction on a residential neighborhood as soon as they could- pressured and even forced the Black residents of Hearne to exhume and rebury their loved ones somewhere else. Eventually, they managed to get every family to do so except for one. Georgia Carter and Dr. Andrew Hunter, the then elderly daughter and son of Hollie Tatnell, refused to allow their mother's body to be exhumed. After a long standoff, Hollie Tatnell's grave was left untouched, and the developers were forced to create a median along the road that would fit Tatnell's diagonal marker. Triumphant, Hunter and Carter placed a second marker for their mother above her original headstone reading- "Come Ye Blessed: To the memory of our mother, Mrs. Georgia E. Carter, Washington, DC & Andrew L. Hunter, M.D., Marlin, TX".

For years the unusual sight of a grave in the middle of a residential street has drawn visitors from all over the country who pay their respects at Tatnell's final resting place. Then, in 2007, the Texas Historical Commission designated the site as a Historic Texas Cemetery- despite having a singular occupant. That year the Commission placed a sign on the median near the grave which reads- "This single grave serves as a reminder of the area's early African-American community and of the sanctity of burial grounds."

Hedges, Anna. The Grave in the Middle of the Road: A Strange Texas Tale, Texas Hill Country. January 9th 2019. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://texashillcountry.com/grave-middle-road-strange-texas-tale/.

Hodges, Colley. The grave in the road, Houston Chronicle. September 1st 2016. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/The-grave-in-the-middle-of-the-street-9195875.php.

Nazifpour, Shayda. Story on womans body that is buried under the city of Hearne, KAGS. April 14th 2017. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.kagstv.com/article/news/story-on-womans-body-that-is-buried-under-the-city-of-hearne/431473133.

Vaughn, Beverly Joe. Hollie Tatnell (1859-1911), Find A Grave. June 9th 2009. Accessed October 8th 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38112586/hollie-tatnell.