The Old Port Isabel Cemetery

 

Harbor Light Street

 

    According to local history, the workers on El Fronton de Santa Isabel Ranch began to use this site as a burial ground as early as the 1840s. The first documented interment was that of Major Samuel Ringgold, who was mortally wounded in the Battle of Palo Alto (the first major battle of the Mexican-American War). On May 8, 1846. Ringgold’s body was later moved to a national cemetery. No grave markers from that time period survive as the wooden crosses used then were no match for the elements and salt air.

    The oldest marked graves still in the cemetery date to the 1880s. The ground was consecrated for use as a Catholic cemetery by French Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in December 1849 and it has served as a community burial ground for people of all faiths throughout its history. The Champion Family donated the cemetery property to the Catholic Church in 1926.

    In 1990, the Texas Historical Commission marked the cemetery a state historical site.

    You can see the heritage of Port Isabel in the many markers showing anchors and shrimp boats as the traditional families in the area leave their final legacy. A visit to this unique cemetary is worth the trip as local color is represnted in the raised graves and the memorials left by family.