Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle
Dublin vicinity, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1884 J. W. McKenzie deeded 3.5 acres of land for church and cemetery purposes in the Purves Community. A portion of the donated land has been used as a burial ground since 1880. The Friendship Baptist Church disbanded in 1915 after serving the area for more than 30 years. Lumber from that church building was used to construct this tabernacle in 1922. The building is a well-preserved example of a group meeting shelter. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1884 J. W. McKenzie deeded three and a half acres in the Purves Community for a church and cemetery, though burials had begun there as early as 1880. When the Friendship Baptist Church disbanded in 1915, its lumber was reused in 1922 to build this open-air tabernacle—a well-preserved example of the group meeting shelters that hosted revivals and gatherings across rural Texas.
Why it matters
Brush-arbor and frame tabernacles like this were the social and spiritual heart of scattered farm communities, and few survive to show how rural Texans came together.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. W. McKenzie
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pecan Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
Dating to 1880, Pecan Cemetery was the main burial ground for the Purves Community, which grew up around James Purves's blacksmith shop in Erath County. Its oldest marked grave is that of infant Horace F. Adams, and a memorial stands for Civil War casualty Daniel Turney, though he is actually buried in Tyler. When nearby Friendship Baptist Church disbanded, its materials were used to build a tabernacle here where funerals and annual cemetery-working gatherings were held.
Turnbow Cemetery
Dublin, TX
Chesley Turnbow and his wife Sabra worked their way west from Kentucky and Tennessee through Arkansas before settling on this Erath County land in the 1850s. The burial ground began in 1879 with the grave of an infant grandchild, and within months it held the family patriarch himself; seven of his ten children rest here as well. It became the resting place of pioneer families, longtime rural neighbors, and veterans of America's wars beginning with the Civil War.
Purves Live Oak Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
In the ranch country of Erath County, this four-acre burial ground took root in 1880 with the grave of a newborn from the Ascue family and grew alongside the small farming settlement of Purves. The community took its name from John Purves, who founded a local church around 1890, and William M. Purves, who became its first postmaster in 1897. Generations of pioneer families—Bruners, Daniels, McCurdys and others—came to rest here, turning the cemetery into a quiet ledger of the people who settled this corner of North Texas.
Caudle Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
Once called South Bolton Cemetery, this Erath County burial ground holds its earliest marked grave from 1879, from the years the Franks family owned the land. The Caudle family bought the property in 1883, and matriarch Rebecca Clayton Caudle was buried here in 1886. Among the poignant stories is Fannie Caudle, who died on her wedding day in 1895 and was laid to rest in her bridal dress; descendants rediscovered and restored the neglected cemetery in 1997.