DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old Red Rock Cemetery, out in Bastrop County. Now, before there was a railroad, before there was much of anything, there was a crossing. Two roads met out here — the Austin to Port Lavaca Stagecoach Road, which you know today as FM 812, and the Bastrop to Gonzales Trail, now CR 229.
And right there at that crossing, a town called Red Rock took root. That's the kind of place this was — a meeting point, a waystation, a spot where roads found each other and people stopped. Then came 1892, and the railroad laid its tracks one mile to the east.
Well. When the railroad speaks, towns listen. Red Rock picked itself up and moved.
The whole town, one mile east, to meet the future. But this ground right here — it didn't move. This cemetery stayed.
And it holds more than 370 graves. Pioneer settlers. Texas trail drivers.
Veterans of the Texas Revolution. Veterans of the Mexican War. Veterans of the Civil War.
These were people who lived hard on this land, and they rest here still. The first burial that anyone can document was in 1864. But here's the thing that'll stay with you — there may be earlier graves out here, graves that simply can't be found anymore.
Homemade sandstone markers were removed at some point, and whatever names and dates they carried went with them. Whole lives, quietly erased by time and circumstance. The cemetery today is maintained by the descendants of the very pioneers who settled this country.
So in a way, the story hasn't ended. The people who built Red Rock are still watching over those who came before them. Some crossroads, it turns out, you don't leave behind.
What the marker says
The town of Red Rock grew at the crossing of the Austin - Port Lavaca Stagecoach Road (now FM 812) and the Bastrop - Gonzales Trail (now CR 229). In 1892 the town moved one mile east to the newly-laid railroad. This site, with more than 370 graves, is the burial place of pioneer settlers, including Texas trail drivers and veterans of the Texas Revolution, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. The first documented burial was in 1864. Earlier graves may have been lost when homemade sandstone markers were removed. The cemetery is maintained by descendants of area pioneers.