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From
Julie Horrocks of Buda, Texas on May 26 2009
About a year ago when I was visiting Austin, I wrote you about the location of the Old Highsmith Cemetery. You replied with its general whereabouts, but admitted you had been unable to pinpoint its exact location.
I moved to Buda last year and had always planned to make the time to
visit this cemetery where my 2nd great grandfather was buried.
Anyway, yesterday my husband Steve and I set out to find this
cemetery! To make a long story short, we did locate it. An older couple
drove us to to a dirt road about .2 miles east of the new Highsmith
Cemetery location. We all got out of the car, and they pointed to a
tree north of where we were standing and said, "The cemetery is under
that tree. It is in bad shape. Watch out for rattlesnakes."
So Steve and I climbed up a hill, crossed the railroad tracks, and
proceeded north for a few hundred feet until we encountered two fences.
We walked along the fence line until one fence ended in a gate. My
husband climbed over a tree to get over the remaining fence. I crawled
on my belly under the barbed wire fence.
The gate was unlocked--we carefully trekked through the dense brush
towards the tree. We did find about ten different headstones, including
ones with my family name on them. The cemetery is in awful shape
because it is so overgrown.
I'm including some pictures. Our teenage children were quite taken
with this adventure--they couldn't believe we did it!
The last photo was of the sign located on the locked gate on Gander
Slough Road. I think this company owns the property where the
cemetery actually resides on. Frankly, the cleanup of this cemetery
would make a great church youth service project or Eagle Scout project
if the property owners would grant access through its locked gate.
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