Texas has a really beautiful state cemetery. Whether you have a penchant for graveyard visits or you’re a Texas history buff, the cemetery makes for a nice afternoon.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Cemetery Is Open During the Week
Anyone can visit the cemetery daily between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. It’s located at 909 Navasota St. in East Austin and is free to the public. It is an active cemetery though and will close for funerals, so you can always give them a call to make sure it’s open at 512-463-0605.
The cemetery is pretty big at 18 acres, spanning from East Seventh Street to East 11th Street. Roughly 3,500 people are buried at the cemetery.
Street parking is available around the cemetery. Accessible parking can be found in front of the cemetery’s visitors center.
It’s a Slice of Texas History
I know visiting a cemetery may seem like a weird recommendation. But walking along the graves of great Texans is really special. The site is also quite beautiful with grassy hills, a quiet pond, and shady trees.
It can also be really cool to visit a place that’s been around since 1851. The cemetery was originally created for lawmakers and public servants but has since been expanded to include Texans who have made significant contributions to history.
“The Texas State Cemetery has come to represent the best of Texas and what makes this great state a unique and special place,” the cemetery’s website says.
A number of monuments and memorials are also on site, including the 19th Century Black Legislators Monument and the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Famous Austinites Buried Here
You could spend weeks learning about every person buried at the Texas State Cemetery. For our purposes, I’ll just list off a few:
- Edward Burleson, the surveyor who laid out the town of Waterloo before it became Austin, was the first person to be buried at the cemetery.
- Ann Richards, a Texas Governor, has one of my favorite headstones.
- Don E. Baylor is an Austinite who was one of three Black students to integrate O. Henry Middle School in the 1960s. He went on to play in three World Series with three different Major League Baseball teams.
