HONORING TEXANS

Pick just about any cemetery in Texas and you should be able to find someone buried there who’s worthy of an honor or two. You may even have somebody like that among your own ancestry. But we also have one cemetery where everyone has a place of honor – the Texas State Cemetery. This 18-acre site, one mile east of the Capitol grounds, was first designated in the 1850s as a final resting place for individuals who have made a significant contribution to Texas. So exactly who will you find buried here? Governors, including “Ma” Ferguson, James Pinckney Henderson, and Ann Richards; Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence including Andrew Briscoe, Thomas Jefferson Gazley, and George Washington Smyth; Authors like Frank Dobie and James Michener; and Texas Rangers including Stephen F. Austin, Willis Thomas Avery, and William “Big Foot” Wallace. In fact, just about anybody can be buried here who has made a significant contribution to the state, whether in government, history, or culture, and who has been approved by the Texas State Cemetery Committee. The cemetery, a stately shade-filled environment ideal for quiet walks, also features many impressive monuments like the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart Monuments, a Vietnam Memorial, and the Texas Armed Forces Memorial Flagpole. A Restoration and Enhancement Project, inspired by Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, included the construction of a new Visitors Center completed in 1997. Guided tours can be arranged through contacts on the cemetery’s website.