Sandy Mountain Cemetery
Sunrise Beach Village, Llano County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Sandy Mountain community boasted a post office as early as 1859, but records of the first use of this site for burials may have been lost when the county courthouse burned in 1892. The death of an infant Marion Walter Allen in 1873 is recorded on the oldest marked grave at this site. His father, W.P. Allen, sold this land to William A. Wootan in 1874, and in subsequent transactions for this one-acre tract, also known as the Wootan Graveyard, it was set aside as a burial ground. A cemetery association formed in 1980 oversees the affairs and care of this site that chronicles the settlement and growth of this area of Llano County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Sandy Mountain community had a post office by 1859, though early burial records may have vanished when the Llano County courthouse burned in 1892. The oldest marked grave belongs to the infant Marion Walter Allen, who died in 1873; his father sold the land the next year, and it passed through owners as the Wootan Graveyard before being set aside for burials. A cemetery association formed in 1980 now tends the one-acre tract, which quietly records the settlement and growth of this corner of Llano County.
Why it matters
Small frontier cemeteries like this one are often the most durable record of pioneer families in places where courthouse fires erased the official paper trail.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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