In a community founded 1848 by pioneers mostly from Alabama, this cemetery was opened with burial of Capt. John L. Wortham (1841-62), who died in Galveston while in Confederate Army in the Civil War. Col. Luther R. ("Dick") Wortham (1820-74), a merchant and planter who came from Kentucky, gave land around the grave for a cemetery, Woodland College, and a Baptist church. In 1906, Woodland College building was given to the people of nearby Shiloh for their school. This cemetery with over 1,000 graves -- burial place of many local leaders -- marks center of the historic community.