Pine Prairie Free Will Baptist Church and Cemetery
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located north of Huntsville, the community of Pine Prairie formed in the 1850s when settlers purchased land in the Thomas Stephens Grant and William Burditt Survey. In 1907, Robert H. Cabiness, D.D. Eastham, and Adolphus Henry and Idella Sanford (Tarbutton) Cansler donated land to Walker County for school and church purposes. Subsequently, Walker County donated the land to the Pine Prairie Free Will Baptist Church. By 1912, community members grew tired of the eight- to ten-mile journey by horse or wagon to Falba or Crabbs Prairie for worship services on Sundays. Mr. Louis P. Jordy began talking to ministers in the area and 18-year-old Reverend J.L. Bounds agreed to hold a revival at the school in Pine Prairie. At the close of the revival, on August 13, 1912, the Pine Prairie Free Will Baptist Church organized with 13 charter members and the Rev. George Robinson as their first pastor. A small schoolhouse was used for church service until 1931, when a new school was built off this property, which was used by the church until 1937, when the first church was constructed. There are burials on the school and church site that predate the official donation of the land, including the graves of Kuber Kisser, “Sweed” Smith, and the infant daughter (d. 1902) of Rudolph and Mary Countz. The cemetery now contains more than 400 burials including veterans from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War. The church and community maintain the cemetery, having added fencing and brick pillars over the years. Community members have donated additional land adjoining the site of the church and cemetery. Annual homecoming reunions have been held at the church since the 1940s with special celebrations on milestone dates, bringing back descendants and friends of early settlers to remember the heritage of the Pine Prairie Community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Pine Prairie community formed north of Huntsville in the 1850s, and by 1907 local families had donated land for a school and church. Tired of the eight- to ten-mile Sunday journey to neighboring communities, residents brought in eighteen-year-old Rev. J.L. Bounds for a revival, and on August 13, 1912, the Pine Prairie Free Will Baptist Church organized with thirteen charter members. The adjoining cemetery, holding more than 400 graves—including veterans of the Civil War through Vietnam—remains cared for by the community, which still gathers for annual homecomings.
Why it matters
The church and its cemetery preserve the memory of a self-reliant rural community whose sons served in every American conflict from the Civil War onward.
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Related people
- · J.L. Bounds
- · George Robinson
- · Louis P. Jordy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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