Munson Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out on Bailey's Prairie, in Brazoria County, there's a patch of ground that's been set aside for the dead since 1850. That's the Munson Cemetery, and the story behind it goes back a little further than that.

Henry William Munson, born in 1793, came to Texas as a member of Austin's colony. Now, that alone tells you something about the man. Austin's colony wasn't exactly a comfortable arrangement.

It took a certain kind of person to plant roots in that country. Henry did, and he raised a son here. Mordello Stephen Munson, born in Liberty County in 1825.

In 1850, Mordello, then a grown man with deep Texas roots under his boots, looked out at the land at Ridgely Plantation, there on Bailey's Prairie, and made a decision. He set aside a burial tract. Not for strangers, not for commerce.

For his family. For his friends. There's something quietly large about that gesture, when you sit with it.

To say: this ground is for the people I love, and the people who come after them. The Munson Cemetery has been standin to that promise ever since.

What the marker says

In 1850, Mordello Stephen Munson (born in Liberty County in 1825)-- son of Henry William Munson (born 1793), a member of Austin's colony-- set aside this burial tract for his family and friends. It was at Ridgely Plantation, on Bailey's Prairie. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966