Cook Cemetery
Lampasas, Lampasas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery, Lampasas' oldest, was established as a pioneer community graveyard in the mid-1850s. The first marked burial here was that of Rebecca Hughes in 1854. The cemetery is named after Arkansas natives William M. and Cynthia Cook who moved to Texas about 1856 and bought the land containing this graveyard in 1861. No recorded burials occurred here after that of J. S. Brown (d. 1873), due, it is believed, to major flooding here in 1873. The cemetery has been altered by highway and business development. It was deeded to the Lampasas County Historical Commission in 1978.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cook Cemetery is Lampasas County's oldest burial ground, begun as a community graveyard in the mid-1850s when the first marked grave was dug in 1854. It took its name from William and Cynthia Cook, Arkansas settlers who bought the land in 1861, and it fell out of use after an 1873 flood swept through the low ground.
Why it matters
Pioneer cemeteries like this one are the quiet ledgers of frontier settlement, recording the names and hardships of the families who first made central Texas home.
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Related people
- · William M. Cook
- · Cynthia Cook
- · Rebecca Hughes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Cook Home, 1861
Lampasas, TX
Built in 1861 of native white stone with lumber hauled in by wagon, the Old Cook Home stands near the county's first cemetery in early Lampasas. Its sturdy stonework reflects the self-reliant building methods of settlers on the Texas frontier.
Hancock Springs
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When the first Anglo settlers arrived in the 1850s they found Native people already using these curative waters, and a town quickly grew up around the springs on the routes of stagecoaches, freight wagons, and cattle drives. Around 1882 Santa Fe Railway promoters built the lavish 200-room Park Hotel with a boardwalk to the springs, and it won fame as the South's finest health resort. The hotel later housed Centenary College until fire destroyed it in 1895, and the area is now a city park.
Matt and Rebecca Smith House
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Matt Smith came to Burnet County as a boy and built a career on the Texas frontier as a deputy sheriff and deputy U.S. Marshal. After marrying Rebecca Wells in 1891, the couple moved to Lampasas in 1896, where they ran the Lampasas Hotel with its restaurant and saloon. Around 1902 they built this Queen Anne cottage, with the scrolled brackets and cross gables typical of the style.
Lampasas County Jail
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Raised in 1883 of native stone with Romanesque trim, this county jail was a substantial statement of law and permanence in still-young Lampasas County. Later stuccoed over, it still holds the supports of its interior scaffold. It was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1965.