Prairie View Cemetery
Briggs, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Pioneer settlers in this vicinity met together for worship services in the Gum Springs Schoolhouse until 1892, when Stephen Taylor deeded land at this site for church and cemetery purposes. This historic cemetery began in the churchyard of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, (also known as Prairie View Church) in the early 1890s. The earliest documented grave in the cemetery is that of Scottish native James Smith (1836-1892), who immigrated to Texas in 1884. Those interred here include pioneer settlers; a number of infants and small children; and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea. The Prairie View Church moved to Briggs in 1906 and became the Briggs Methodist Church. The congregation later was dissolved, and the members attended worship services in neighboring communities. The church building was moved to Lampasas in 1951 and converted into a parsonage. The Prairie View Cemetery serves as a physical reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. the Prairie View Cemetery Association, organized in 1977, provides maintenance for the historic graveyard. (1991)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Before there was a church here, Burnet County pioneers gathered to worship in the Gum Springs Schoolhouse — until 1892, when Stephen Taylor deeded this land for a church and burial ground. The earliest documented grave belongs to Scottish immigrant James Smith, and around him rest pioneer settlers, many infants and children, and veterans of every American war from the Civil War through Korea. Though the congregation later dissolved and its building was carted off to Lampasas, a local association has tended the graves since 1977.
Why it matters
A rural cemetery like Prairie View is a community's memory made visible — a single ground holding the settlers, families, and soldiers who built and defended a corner of frontier Texas.
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Related people
- · Stephen Taylor
- · James Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mahomet Cemetery
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With graves reaching back to the 1850s, this burial ground served the neighboring Sycamore Springs and Mahomet communities before being formally deeded to Mahomet in 1909. Hundreds rest here, including many of Burnet County's earliest settlers and veterans of American wars from the Mexican War through Vietnam. Descendants still tend the active cemetery today.
Maxdale Cemetery
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One of the oldest cemeteries in Bell County, this burial ground began in the 1860s serving the rural community of Pleasant Grove. When Frank N. McBryde, Sr. — who donated the land — secured a post office in 1883, the settlement took the name Maxdale. Its earliest documented grave is that of a young woman who died in 1867, and among those laid to rest here are pioneer settlers and veterans reaching from the Civil War through Korea.
Oatmeal Cemetery
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James B. Williams
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