San Marcial Cemeteries

The Masonic Cemetery was the main "New Town" San Marcial cemetery established about 1882. Like most residents of New Town, it was primarily a Protestant cemetery, though with some Catholic burials (that is, Catholics or non-Masons were not excluded). The cemetery has been virtually unused since the 1929 flood with the area abandonment and falling into disrepair. There are only a few family graves post-1929 – in most cases, persons who were born or lived in San Marcial prior to the flood and wished to be buried there. Most of the wood grave markers are rotting and now illegible; mesquite, creosote bushes and vegetation overgrowing much of the cemetery and graves . The cemetery is administered by Hiram Lodge #13 in Albuquerque. They performed an excellent cleanup of the cemetery in 2019, after many of the following photos were taken.

Masonic Cemetery graves were recorded in 1969 by Mrs. Buford Richardson, President of the Socorro County Historical Society at the time. Her listing is far more complete than most listings of the San Marcial cemetery found online. Listing here.

San Marcial Catholic Cemetery

The Catholic Cemetery is located on a hill northwest of the Plaza Viejo townsite.

The Catholic church was built early 1870s when the area was first settled.

When New Town was founded, it became a Parish church in 1884 and the "official"

Catholic cemetery established. The Parish priest serving the nearby communities

of La Mesa, Valverde, Paraje, San Jose, San Albino and the like. The church and

much of Plaza Viejo survived the 1929 flood while the other nearby villages did not,

forcing the Priest to be assigned to the Socorro Parish in 1930, conducting mass

at Plaza Viejo once monthly. Plaza Viejo was inundated in the 1937 flood with the

Parish status removed shortly thereafter. The town and cemetery has been abandoned

since except for a few burials of those that once called Plaza Viejo home.

NOTE: The arroyo north of Plaza Viejo and the townsite was flooded in 2013 and 2017

due to severe rain storms, and burned in the 2018 bosque fire. The road from the

Masonic cemetery to the Catholic and Gonzales cemeteries and the Plaza Viejo

townsite are now virtually impassable and inaccessible as a result.

Gonzales or Plaza Viejo Cemetery

Plaza Viejo townsite following the 2018 San Marcial Bosque fire

The Gonzales cemetery, sometimes called the Plaza Viejo cemetery, is a small cemetery

located atop a hill west of the original village of San Marcial (Plaza Viejo). It is believed

Plaza Viejo was settled around 1864, shortly after the nearby Civil War Battle at Valverde.

Some of the families were employed at Ft. Craig two miles to the south, in addition to

working their small farms and ranches. The Gonzales family was one of the prominent

families in town with a large ranch and owned the local merchantile and grocery store. They

donated the land for the town's cemetery, and hence the name.

Though the Catholic cemetery was established nearby in the 1880s, many of the pioneer

families preferred to be buried with their ancestors in the Gonzales cemetery. It has about

150 graves and in disrepair.

Boot Hill cemetery is the name erroneously given to this small cemetery by some internet genealogy sites, even claiming the graves are Confederate soldiers killed in the nearby Battle of Valverde on February 21, 1862. This is completely inaccurate. The true providence is as stated above based on family aural history and boots on the ground research (as seen by the photos) rather than arm chair lore.

Google Earth image of San Marcial area,
showing locations of the cemeteries

Masonic cemetery entrance

The "road" to Plaza Viejo
after 2013 and 2017 floods

Portion of the cemetery
looking west

Oldest marked grave: 1893
A one-year old child

Many wood graves and plot
fences have rotted and collapsed

Fence along west perimeter
of the cemetery.

One of the family grave plots on the nearby hill, west of cemetery.

View of the cemetery from a nearby hill, looking east.

A few steel pipes and rock outlines are all that remain on south side of cemetery - possibly the pauper graves.

Example of the few wood grave markers still standing - none readible.

Many graves overgrown with
creosote bushes.