Glen Rest Cemetery
Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
ON OCTOBER 15, 1894, A GROUP OF KERRVILLE CITIZENS ESTABLISHED GLEN REST AS A COMMUNITY CEMETERY NEAR THE GUADALUPE RIVER. S.H. REMSCHEL SOLD A TEN-ACRE TRACT TO DIRECTORS A.C. SCHREINER, H. REMSCHEL, W.G. GARRETT, B.H. ROSS AND ED SMALLWOOD. BURIALS NOW NUMBER IN THE THOUSANDS. SOME FAMILIES HAVE AS MANY AS FIVE GENERATIONS BURIED HERE. PROMINENT NAMES WITH MORE THAN TEN FAMILY MEMBERS INCLUDE PETERSON, DIETERT, HEIMANN, REES, MOORE, SCHREINER, BUTT, GARRETT AND LEINWEBER. SOME SOURCES INDICATE THAT THE LOW ROCK WALL OF NATIVE LIMESTONE, DATING FROM THE 1920s, USES MATERIALS FROM THE DEMOLISHED 1886 KERR COUNTY COURTHOUSE. GLEN REST CEMETERY IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR MANY PIONEER AND HISTORIC FAMILIES OF KERRVILLE AND THE SURROUNDING HILL COUNTRY.HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2018
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On October 15, 1894, a group of Kerrville citizens set aside a ten-acre tract near the Guadalupe River as Glen Rest, a community burial ground. Its directors and the thousands laid to rest here — some families reaching five generations deep, bearing names like Schreiner, Dietert, and Butt — read like a roll call of the Hill Country's founding families. A low native-limestone wall from the 1920s is said to reuse stone from the demolished 1886 Kerr County courthouse, binding one landmark's remains into another.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery like Glen Rest is a community's memory made visible, preserving the names and family lines that built Kerrville and the surrounding Hill Country.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By the 1890s, Kerrville was changing from a frontier settlement into a real town. Set in the Hill Country along the Guadalupe River, it served ranchers raising sheep, goats and cattle on the rocky hills, and it became a trade center for wool and mohair. People also came for the dry climate and hill air in hopes of better health.
A growing town needs lasting institutions: churches, schools, a courthouse and a proper cemetery. Burial customs across America were changing too. Families and towns increasingly moved away from scattered family plots toward organized community cemeteries with directors, deeds and a promise of permanent care. Glen Rest, founded in 1894, was part of that move.
The Hill Country's population was also varied. German immigrants had settled much of the region from the 1840s on, alongside Anglo-American families from other parts of the South. The names in this cemetery reflect that mix.
People & events
On October 15, 1894, a group of Kerrville citizens established Glen Rest as a community cemetery near the Guadalupe. S. H. Remschel sold a ten-acre tract to the cemetery's directors: A. C. Schreiner, H. Remschel, W. G. Garrett, B. H. Ross and Ed Smallwood. They were business people and neighbors creating something for the whole town, and several of their surnames appear again among the burials.
Over the following century-plus, burials grew into the thousands. Some families have as many as five generations here, which is a remarkable record of staying in one place. Names with more than ten family members include Peterson, Dietert, Heimann, Rees, Moore, Schreiner, Butt, Garrett and Leinweber. Read in order, they sound like a roll call of the people who ran Kerrville's stores, ranches and churches.
The cemetery holds a smaller story as well. Its low wall of native limestone dates from the 1920s, and some sources suggest it was built partly with stone from Kerr County's 1886 courthouse after that building was torn down. The marker is careful to say this has not been proven. If it is true, the old seat of county government lives on as the boundary around the county's dead.
Its place in the American story
Community cemeteries like Glen Rest are among the most valuable historical records a town has. Headstones record birth and death dates, family ties, immigrant origins, military service and sometimes the tragedies of epidemics or hard years. For genealogists and historians, a place like this is an archive written in stone.
Glen Rest also shows how frontier communities across America became permanent. Setting aside ten acres for the dead is a kind of promise that people intend to stay and that their descendants will stay too. Five generations in one burial ground shows that the promise was kept, something that was not always true in the restless American West.
The mix of names shows how America's frontier was settled by many groups, including German immigrants alongside families from other states. The cemetery is a reminder that the West was not settled by one type of pioneer but by families from many backgrounds who built towns together.
If you visit
Glen Rest is a place for a quiet, respectful walk. Burials continue here, and families still visit, so move gently, stay on paths where they exist and leave graves and decorations as you find them.
Look for the low native-limestone wall and consider its possible link to the 1886 courthouse. Then walk the rows and watch for the family names on the marker, such as Schreiner, Dietert, Leinweber, Butt and others. Where you find several generations together, you can follow a family's story across more than a century. Older stones can show changing styles of carving and inscription, and on some you may see German-language lettering reflecting the region's heritage.
Kerrville is a comfortable base for exploring the Hill Country, with the Guadalupe River nearby for a stroll or a quiet moment by the water. Glen Rest makes a thoughtful stop on a day spent in town, a good counterpart to visiting shops and river parks, since many of the people who built them are buried here.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related events
- · Establishment of Glen Rest Cemetery (1894)
Themes & tags
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