This community cemetery dates to 1854, when 18-year-old Rebecca Chambers died and was buried here after reportedly becoming ill while traveling past with the family of her sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and E. G. Evans, and asking to be buried on this flower-covered hillside. While the land was vacant public domain, several other burials also took place, and about 65 early graves are marked only by rocks. The site became part of the 160-acre survey of A. J. Stanford and was patented in 1857, and the burial grounds were used by early settlers of Hickory Creek, Elm Grove, and Smithwick's Mill. The Smithwick Cemetery Association was formed in 1930, and over the years additional land was added, a caretaker was hired, and improvements including a tabernacle and fencing were made. The association continues to maintain the site, where among 600 burials are 5 unknown graves reinterred from the South San Gabriel River area in 1974 by the U. S. Corps of Engineers and veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.