Mount Zion Cemetery
Point Blank, San Jacinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John R. Johnson, whose 1849 land grant included this property, gave 4.25 acres in 1850 to Mount Zion Methodist Church. Churchyard burials may have begun earlier, but oldest gravestone is dated 1870. The church building was dismantled in 1928 after it fell into ruin. In 1958, descendants of Harrells' settlement, Mount Zion, and Stephens Creek pioneers began a yearly homecoming here at the sole public landmark of their ancestors, the cemetery. As of 1976, there are about 250 graves-- most of them identified and a number marked through efforts of a special committee.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground grew from an 1849 land grant, when John R. Johnson deeded acreage to Mount Zion Methodist Church in 1850 on the edge of the East Texas piney woods. The frame church fell into ruin and was taken down in 1928, but the cemetery endured as the last tangible trace of several pioneer settlements. In 1958 descendants of those families began an annual homecoming among its roughly 250 graves.
Why it matters
It shows how a rural cemetery can outlast the church and community around it to become the enduring anchor of a settlement's memory.
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Related people
- · John R. Johnson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
George Tyler Wood
Point Blank, TX
Born in Georgia in 1795, George Tyler Wood came to serve the young Texas nation, sitting in the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1841–42 before winning the governorship of the new state in 1847. He led Texas through its early statehood years and rests here beneath the simple epitaph, "Here sleeps a just man."
The Robert Tod Robinson House
Point Blank, TX
Robert Tod Robinson, a planter who came to Texas from Alabama, built this house in 1857 on high ground near the meeting of waterways and land trails, close to the property of Governor George T. Wood. He raised a large family here in a log home fronted by wide double verandas in the style of his native state. Siding covered the logs in 1919 and the facade was altered in the 1970s, but a descendant still owns and preserves it.
Near Burial Place of Governor George Tyler Wood
Point Blank, TX
Born in Georgia in 1795, George Tyler Wood came to Texas in 1839 and rose through the Republic's Congress, the 1845 Annexation Convention, and the first state Senate, which he left to fight in the Mexican War. As governor from 1847 to 1849 he rallied defenses against frontier raids, urged public schools and land sales to pay the state debt, and had Texas's laws codified, its library founded, and its penitentiary built. He is buried near here.
Isaac Jones
Point Blank, TX
Isaac Jones was a self-reliant pioneer who moved to the Trinity River country in 1834, taking up a Mexican land grant on the river's west bank while Texas was still under Mexican rule. He served briefly in the army of the young Texas Republic between 1836 and 1838 and later ran a ferry at Jones Bluff, a vital river crossing for travelers and goods.