Turnersville Cemetery
Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
TURNERSVILLE CEMETERY THIS BURIAL GROUND SERVED RESIDENTS OF THE RURAL COMMUNITY OF TURNERSVILLE (ORIGINALLY BUCHANAN SPRINGS). SETTLED BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, TURNERSVILLE BOASTED A COTTON GIN, STORES, A SCHOOL, AND THREE CHURCHES BY THE 1880s. THE INTERRED HERE INCLUDE MANY OF THESE PAST RESIDENTS, WITH RANCHERS, FARMERS, MERCHANTS, PHYSICIANS, TEACHERS, MINISTERS, AND MILITARY VETERANS AMONG THEM. CEMETERY FEATURES INCLUDE INTERIOR FENCING, CURBING, AND GRAVE SLABS. A CEMETERY ASSOCIATION FORMED BY 1900, BUT DISBANDED IN THE 1930s. THE TURNERSVILLE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION REORGANIZED IN 1953, AND STILL CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THE BURIAL GROUND. TODAY, THE CEMETERY IS ONE OF THE FEW REMAINING VESTIGES OF THE TURNERSVILLE COMMUNITY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground served Turnersville—first called Buchanan Springs—a Coryell County community settled before the Civil War that by the 1880s boasted a cotton gin, stores, a school, and three churches. Ranchers, farmers, merchants, physicians, teachers, ministers, and military veterans lie among its curbed plots and grave slabs. A cemetery association formed by 1900, lapsed in the 1930s, and reorganized in 1953 to keep tending the site.
Why it matters
Turnersville Cemetery is one of the last remnants of a self-sufficient frontier Texas settlement, preserving the memory of the pioneers who cleared and farmed the land.
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Themes & tags
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