Pioneer Graveyard
Pecos, Reeves County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Earliest Pecos landmark. Started with burial of men in hazardous work of building Texas & Pacific Railroad, 1881. Used over 30 years by settlers in the Pecos Valley. First markers, of native red stone or wood, have now been lost or effaced in sandstorms and floods. (1966)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pecos's oldest landmark began not as a town plot but as a grave, opened in 1881 for men killed in the dangerous work of building the Texas & Pacific Railroad across West Texas. For more than thirty years it served the settlers of the Pecos Valley, though its earliest wooden and native-stone markers were long ago worn away by sandstorms and floods.
Why it matters
The graveyard is a stark reminder that the transcontinental railroads were laid at a heavy human cost, and that West Texas towns often grew up first around the burials of the workers who reached them.
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Nearby & related markers
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Reeves County-Pecos, Texas
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