Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Out here in Erath County, in the Purves Community, there's a piece of ground that's been holding stories longer than most folks can remember. A burial ground on this spot going back to 1880.

Let that settle for a second. 1880. Before the tabernacle, before the church that built it, people were already being laid to rest right here. Then in 1884, a man named J.

W. McKenzie deeded 3.5 acres of land, setting it aside for church and cemetery purposes. A generous act, and a lasting one.

The Friendship Baptist Church took root and served that community for more than thirty years. Thirty years of Sundays, of weddings and funerals, of voices lifted up in that building. Then, in 1915, the Friendship Baptist Church disbanded.

The congregation gone. But here's the part that'll get you. Nobody let that lumber just sit and rot.

In 1922, the wood from that old church building was used to construct the tabernacle standing here today. Same timber, new purpose. A group meeting shelter, open to the sky and the community both.

And it has held together, well-preserved, all this time. There's something about a place like this, cemetery ground stretching back to 1880, a building made from the bones of a church that loved this land before it was gone. Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle.

Erath County keeps its history close.

What the marker says

In 1884 J. W. McKenzie deeded 3.5 acres of land for church and cemetery purposes in the Purves Community. A portion of the donated land has been used as a burial ground since 1880. The Friendship Baptist Church disbanded in 1915 after serving the area for more than 30 years. Lumber from that church building was used to construct this tabernacle in 1922. The building is a well-preserved example of a group meeting shelter. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996