New Red Rock Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about New Red Rock Cemetery, out in Bastrop County. Now, before there was a New Red Rock Cemetery, there was just Red Rock. And Red Rock had been putting down roots since the 1850s, when settlers first made their homes in that corner of Bastrop County.

By 1870, the place had enough going on to warrant a post office. By the mid-1870s, it was running a Male and Female Academy. And by the mid-1880s, about a hundred and fifty people called it home.

That's a real town, friends. Then came 1890, and with it the MK&T Railroad. Now the railroad didn't come to Red Rock exactly.

It built about one mile east of Red Rock. One mile. And you know what happened next.

The residents picked up their homes and their businesses and they moved to meet it. The whole community just... relocated. That's the kind of thing that sounds made up, but there it is.

The growing community, this new version of Red Rock, needed a cemetery. In 1913, L.A. and Adirenne Turner conveyed one acre of land to three trustees: L.G. Ellis, Gus Jung, and N.B.

Harris. That's how New Red Rock Cemetery came to be. And the record doesn't waste any time telling you who was first laid to rest there.

S.B. Harris, buried on April 22, 1913. The ink on that deed was barely dry.

The cemetery kept growin, the way cemeteries do, one gift of land at a time. In 1922, the Turners gave again, an additional quarter acre, and that section bears their name to this day, the Turner Section. In 1952, the Reverend Eugene Stewart Neuenschwander deeded almost half an acre to the cemetery.

Then in 1965, and again in 1993, the Petty family donated land and lots to the cemetery association. Within those grounds rest military veterans, members of fraternal organizations, and generations upon generations of area families. The marker calls it a rich history, and it's hard to argue.

From a settlement in the 1850s, through a post office, through an academy, through a railroad that moved an entire town, all the way to a cemetery tended by a community that still shows up for it. New Red Rock Cemetery isn't just where Red Rock buries its dead. It's where Red Rock keeps its story.

What the marker says

As early as the 1850s, settlers of the community of Red Rock had established homes in this area. In 1870, the Red Rock Post Office opened, and by the mid-1870s, the settlement supported the Red Rock Male and Female Academy. The town grew, with about 150 residents by the mid-1880s. In 1890, the MK&T Railroad built about one mile east of Red Rock, and residents moved their homes and businesses here. The growing community established this cemetery in 1913, when L.A. and Adirenne Turner conveyed one acre of land to trustees L.G. Ellis, Gus Jung and N.B. Harris. The first documented burial is that of S.B. Harris, who died on April 22, 1913. In 1922, the cemetery's Turner Section was established when the Turners doanted an dditional quarter acre. In 1952, the Rev. Eugene Stewart Neuenschwander deeded almost half an acre to the cemetery, and in 1965 and 1993, the Petty family donated land and lots to the cemetery association, which maintains the burial ground today. Burials include those of miliatry veterans and members of franternal organizations, as well as generations of area residents, forever linking the New Red Rock Cemetery to the community's rich history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003