Highland Cemetery
Melissa, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Highland community was established in the mid-1800s as a stop on the stage route between Buckner (approximate 3 miles west of the present site of McKinney) and Bonham. An early settler, Charles H. Wysong, donated 3 acres of land for a community church, school, and cemetery in 1858. The first marked grave, that of Robert Strother, is dated 1861. Many north central Collin county pioneers and their descendants are buried here. The graveyard is cared for by the Highland Cemetery Association, organized more than one hundred years ago. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Highland community grew up in the mid-1800s as a stop on the stagecoach route between Buckner and Bonham, and in 1858 settler Charles H. Wysong gave three acres for a church, school, and cemetery. The oldest marked grave, dated 1861, belongs to Robert Strother, and generations of north central Collin County pioneers rest here. A cemetery association organized more than a century ago still cares for the grounds.
Why it matters
The graveyard anchors the memory of a vanished stagecoach-era community, preserving the pioneers who first settled the north Texas prairie.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Charles H. Wysong
- · Robert Strother
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dr. William Edward Throckmorton
Melissa, TX
Born in Virginia in 1795 and dead by 1843, Dr. William Edward Throckmorton left his name on a Texas county though his own life ran its course in the early Republic era. Physicians of his generation were among the essential figures on a thinning frontier, carrying medicine into places that had little else. The county named for him carries that legacy forward.
Scott-Barker House
Melissa, TX
This L-plan Victorian dwelling went up around the 1870s, as the young town of Melissa was taking root in the Blackland Prairie of North Texas. Merchant Louis A. Scott and his wife Louise bought it in 1880, and after 1903 it passed to the Barker family, whose daughters lived here for 85 years. When a devastating tornado tore through Melissa in 1921, the sturdy house lost only a chimney—a small testament to its solid construction and its distinctive dormers and Mansard-type roofs.
Melissa Christian Church
Melissa, TX
This North Texas congregation grew out of religious gatherings held in a local schoolhouse as early as 1868, raising its first sanctuary near this spot in 1878. After a 1921 tornado leveled that building, local contractor W. N. Osburn led church volunteers in erecting the present structure in 1924, giving it modest classical touches like entrance pediments and a dentil cornice. Many worshippers today descend from the church's charter members.
Coffman Cemetery
Anna, TX
This burial ground grew up around the mid-nineteenth-century community of Coffman, on land given by early settler John Coffman, whose son George farmed nearby. The oldest marked grave dates to 1876, and for more than a century the cemetery served as the community's primary resting place. Descendants of many families buried here still live in this corner of Collin County.