Prairie View Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Prairie View Cemetery, out in Burnet County. Now, most stories start with a beginning, but this one starts with a schoolhouse. The Gum Springs Schoolhouse, to be precise, where pioneer settlers in this vicinity gathered together for worship services.

Church and school sharing a roof, the way things had to be done on the frontier. That went on until 1892, when a man named Stephen Taylor deeded land right here at this site, set aside for church and cemetery purposes. That single act of generosity changed what this place would become.

The First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, rose up here, also known as the Prairie View Church, and in its churchyard a cemetery took root in the early 1890s. The earliest documented grave belongs to James Smith, a native of Scotland, born in 1836, who had made his way to Texas in 1884 and passed from this world in 1892. He rests here still.

And he is not alone. Pioneer settlers, infants and small children, and veterans who answered the call in the Civil War, in World War I, in World War II, and in Korea. All of them gathered here beneath the Texas sky.

Now, the church itself had its own journey still to make. In 1906, Prairie View Church picked up and moved to Briggs, where it became the Briggs Methodist Church. The congregation, over time, was dissolved, and the members went on to attend worship services in neighboring communities.

Then in 1951, the church building itself was moved to Lampasas and converted into a parsonage. The church was gone. But the cemetery stayed.

It always stays. The Prairie View Cemetery Association, organized in 1977, took on the work of maintaining this historic ground. Because someone has to tend to the quiet places.

Someone has to remember that all of this, the worship, the settlers, the soldiers, the children, the hope that brought people to a schoolhouse in the first place, happened right here.

What the marker says

Pioneer settlers in this vicinity met together for worship services in the Gum Springs Schoolhouse until 1892, when Stephen Taylor deeded land at this site for church and cemetery purposes. This historic cemetery began in the churchyard of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, (also known as Prairie View Church) in the early 1890s. The earliest documented grave in the cemetery is that of Scottish native James Smith (1836-1892), who immigrated to Texas in 1884. Those interred here include pioneer settlers; a number of infants and small children; and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea. The Prairie View Church moved to Briggs in 1906 and became the Briggs Methodist Church. The congregation later was dissolved, and the members attended worship services in neighboring communities. The church building was moved to Lampasas in 1951 and converted into a parsonage. The Prairie View Cemetery serves as a physical reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. the Prairie View Cemetery Association, organized in 1977, provides maintenance for the historic graveyard. (1991)