Fulshear Black Cemetery Eagle Scout Project

PATRICK McREA's EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT

BENEFITING THE GREATER ZACHERY MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

Hello, my name is Patrick McRea, and I am a Life Scout at Troop 941 in Fulshear, Texas. As part of becoming the rank of Eagle Scout, I must complete a service project that I have planned and executed myself. My project will be for the Fulshear Black Cemetery. My project will repair the existing entrance gate, build an entrance trail, and install entranceway flower gardens. This project will benefit the Greater Zachery Missionary Baptist Church of Fulshear.

The Fulshear Black Cemetery is a historical cemetery that is important to the history of Fulshear. This cemetery began as a slave cemetery in the early 1800's and many of those early burials are unmarked. The oldest headstone is from 1915, and many have been buried here since, including a horse trainer and cowboy, the first colored school house founders, local entrepreneurs, religious leaders, and veterans from WWI through the Vietnam War. It contains a variety of headstones made of fieldstone, granite, marble, steel, homemade concrete, wood, and resin. The cemetery is evidence of the rich heritage of the people in this area.

For my project, I plan to first repair the broken gate that is the main entrance to the cemetery. Then, I will make an 8' wide x 105' long crushed granite path stretching from the entrance gate to the gazebo in the center of the cemetery. From there, I will build the granite path to form a 4' wide apron around the gazebo. Additionally, I am going to install flower beds at the entrance of the cemetery, as well as around the flag pole.

I would really appreciate it if you could donate to this effort. My total estimated cost to perform the project is $3,000. All funding for this project needs to be collected by the end of December in order to complete the project in January of 2024. All donations are tax deductible as the Greater Zachery Missionary Baptist Church is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Any amount of money will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

I am dedicating this project to the late Reverend Jackie Gilmore of the Greater Zachery Missionary Baptist Church who originally helped me plan this project. I am honored that I had the privilege of getting to know such an exceptional man, and a pillar of our community. I promised him that I would complete this project and I will keep my promise to him.

Sincerely,

Patrick McRea

Life Scout

Troop 941 – Fulshear, Texas