Antioch Cemetery
Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery is the only remaining physical evidence of a once thriving farming community. Originally located 1.25 miles northwest of here, it was in use before the Civil War. The cemetery and an associated church-school building were moved to this site on the Gotier Trace in 1882. The earliest marked grave, that of infant Benno Goerner, dates to that year. Among the nearly 100 graves are those of pioneer families of Bastrop County; veterans, including Confederate soldiers of the Civil War; and victims of many diseases, a majority of them children. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground is the last trace of a farming community that thrived in Bastrop County before the Civil War. In 1882 the cemetery and its church-school building were relocated to this spot along the historic Gotier Trace, and the earliest marked grave here—an infant's—dates to that year. Among its roughly one hundred graves lie pioneer families, Confederate veterans, and many children lost to disease.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery like this preserves the human record of a vanished settlement, from its founding families to the Civil War generation and the toll of frontier epidemics.
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Themes & tags
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