RICHMOND, Texas – A Fort Bend County woman who spends her free time cleaning headstones at a historic Black cemetery in Richmond says the crumbling dirt road leading to the grounds is making it difficult and dangerous for families to visit and pay their respects.
Myra Lowrie, who calls herself the “cemetery lady,” reached out to 2 Helps You after she said she got the runaround trying to figure out who is responsible for the private road’s maintenance.
“There’s potholes, large pothole,” Lowrie said.
The road leads to Pleasant Green Cemetery, a graveyard with deep roots in the region’s Black history. The site was founded in 1868, with records indicating some of the earliest burials took place in the early 1800s. Some of those graves are unmarked.
Lowrie says she visits regularly to scrub headstones and preserve stories she believes might otherwise be forgotten.
“I think there’s a lot of love stories that brought us here,” she said.
Among the graves are veterans and former slaves, according to those who care for the site.
Pastor Herman Clay of Pleasant Green Baptist Church said the church once stood near the cemetery but has since relocated. He said the church historically served multiple roles in the community.
“The church was used as a school as well,” Clay said. He added it was also used as a processing center where enslaved people were processed.
Lowrie said the problem is not the condition of the cemetery itself, but access to it.
“I’m just looking for help for this road,” she said.
Aerial footage shows large potholes along the dirt road. Lowrie said some vehicles cannot make it through, and she worries the deteriorating conditions may keep families away from recent graves as well as older ones.
“This is an active cemetery as you can see there’s a recent grave over there,” Lowrie said. “And so they need help with this road so people can get up here and drive around.”
The church says it owns only the land under the cemetery, not the road leading to it.
KPRC 2 reviewed county records and confirmed the dirt road is owned by Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District 134-A. The station has reached out to the utility district and is waiting for a response.
For Lowrie, the road’s condition has become a daily test of whether the living will protect the legacy of those buried there.
Every jolt along the pitted path, she said, underscores a larger concern: that a place central to the community’s history is still waiting for basic care and access worthy of its significance.