Fayetteville City Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Out on the edge of Fayetteville, there's a piece of ground that has been quietly keeping records far longer than any courthouse or county ledger. This is the Fayetteville City Cemetery, and it has been doing its solemn work since early in the community's history.

The earliest recorded burial here belongs to a man named Cass Fisher, and that date goes all the way back to 1851. Eighteen fifty-one. That's not a recent addition to the rolls.

Among those who followed him into this ground are some names worth pausing on. Dr. William P.

Smith rests here. Surgeon, military leader, public servant. A man who apparently couldn't hold himself to just one calling.

And scattered across this cemetery are veterans of conflicts stretching all the way back to the War of 1812. Think about that the next time you're driving through Fayette County. Now, one burial in particular carries a story the whole town still lives inside of.

P.J. Shaver. He surveyed this place.

He named it Fayetteville. And he donated the very land that eventually became this cemetery and the neighboring St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery.

The man shaped the town, then gave a piece of himself to it, and in the end came to rest in the ground he set aside. Today, if you walk these rows, you're walking through a different kind of record book. Pioneer families, teachers, preachers, business owners, judges, city officials, community leaders and residents, all gathered here together.

Fayetteville City Cemetery. The town keeps building its history above ground, and this place just keeps keepin' it.

What the marker says

This burial ground has served Fayetteville since early in the community's history. The earliest recorded burial, of Cass Fisher, dates to 1851. Other notable burials include surgeon, military leader and public servant Dr. William P. Smith and veterans of conflicts dating to the War of 1812. Also interred here is P.J. Shaver, who surveyed and named Fayetteville; he also donated land for burial use, which was later divided into this cemetery and neighboring St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery. Today, the graves here serve as a record of pioneer families, teachers, preachers, business owners, judges, city officials, and Fayetteville community leaders and residents. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006