To Tunisia – somewhere in Texas

Dido was a legendary queen of Carthage in Virgil's Aeneid. She killed

Pasture land near Dido

herself when Aeneas left her. That didn’t stop folks in Texas from naming a town after her. Now a ghost town, Dido has lots history and still is connected to the community.

Dave Thurmond and his family arrived in northwest Tarrant County from

Fountain in the
Dido Cemetery

Virginia in 1848. The nearness of the Trinity River and the rich land that surrounded it made settling in the area a good idea; eventually he claimed about a section of land as his own. Sometime between 1850 and 1855, a teacher of Latin, Greek and penmanship wandered into this small community. He may have been taken with the beauty of the area, or perhaps he just liked the ancient Queen of Carthage; but in either case, he named the town Dido.

Transportation and travelers brought trade into the town. Trails and roads ran from Birdville through Dido and Ashland to Aurora; from Azle, Peden, 

Walking along cemetery road

and Reno to Dido; and to Haslet, Avondale, Saginaw, and Fort Worth. By 1875, the town had attracted several families. There was a school that served 43 students; a one room school was built to house a growing population. The building was also used for Sunday School, Bible classes, singing hymn, and, when the circuit rider came along, preaching. A few years later, the Methodists and Baptists alternated Sunday services in the school house. For forty years the town prospered, but in 1892 the Rock Island Railroad line went through Newark rather than through Dido. Buildings were moved to the new railroad town, and Dido vanished.

All that is left of the town on Dido is the foundation of the school and the

Private in Confederate Cavlery

Dido Cemetery. In 1887 the land was donated for internments by Dempsey S. Holt and Dr. Isaac Lycurgus Van Zandt. However, a field near the cemetery was first used in 1865 when two brothers returning from the Civil War sought shelter with the Thurmonds. They were very ill, subsequently dying even though they received medical treatment. Their graves, along with those of a few others, were marked with rocks that have since eroded. The first marked grave is that of an infant girl, dated Oct. 29, 1879. Generally the people buried in the cemetery are the descendants of the early families in the area. People from all faiths are buried here as are soldiers from all the wars beginning with the Civil War. What’s left of Dido is near Eagle Mountain Lake.

"Don't sweat the petty and don't pet the sweaty"

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