Cemetery Square

Duane's take

The marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Way back in 1825, when this part of Gonzales was being laid out as the Inner Town, somebody drew a line around this block and said — this one's for the dead. Set aside as a cemetery, right from the beginning.

Now, most land in a new town gets claimed fast — for stores, for homes, for the business of the living. But this block? This one was spoken for.

Traditionally, it became the resting place of Nicholas Peck, a soldier of San Jacinto. Let that name sit a moment — San Jacinto. Then there's Daniel Davis, who rode with the Mier Expedition, and his wife Elizabeth, laid to rest beside him.

And beyond those names, other early-day residents — folks whose stories the marker doesn't spell out, but whose presence here is older than almost anything else standing in this county. A whole block set aside in 1825, and the ones who filled it left their mark on Texas before Texas was even fully Texas. That's the kind of ground you walk carefully on.

What the marker says

This block of the Inner Town was designated in 1825 as a cemetery. Traditionally the burial ground for Nicholas Peck, a soldier of San Jacinto; Daniel Davis, a soldier in mier expedition, and his wife, Elizabeth; along with other early-day residents.