HomeMy WebLinkAboutSteep Hollow Cemetery - State Marker STEEP HOLLOW CEMETERY
THIS BURIAL GROUND WAS PART OF THE STEEP HOLLOW COMMUNITY,
NAMED FOR THE VALLEY OF THE STEEP HOLLOW BRANCH, A TRIBUTARY OF
WICKSON CREEK. RESIDENTS WERE RANCHERS AND FARMERS, AND THE
COMMUNITY HAD A GENERAL STORE, COTTON GIN, GRISTMILL AND
SCHOOLHOUSE. SAINTS REST BAPTIST CHURCH (LATER STEEP HOLLOW
BAPTIST CHURCH), ORGANIZED IN 1873, WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE
CEMETERY, WHICH FIRST SERVED AS A PRIVATE FAMILY BURIAL GROUND. IN
1874, CHARLES AND EVALINE PETERS CONVEYED PROPERTY FOR THE
CEMETERY AND SURROUNDING LAND TO THE CHURCH.
THE EARLIEST INTERMENTS WERE THOSE OF JAMES PETERS (d. 1870), SON
OF CHARLES AND EVALINE, AND ROBERT MARTIN (d. 1871), SON OF SARAH
ANN (CHESHIRE) AND REV. SAMUEL CRAWFORD MARTIN (d. 1902), THE FIRST
PASTOR OF SAINTS REST BAPTIST CHURCH. THE MARTINS ARE ALSO BURIED
HERE WITH FOUR OTHER MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH. OTHER BURIALS
INCLUDE TEACHERS, BUSINESSMEN, FARMERS, RANCHERS AND VETERANS
OF MILITARY CONFLICTS DATING TO THE CIVIL WAR. THE CEMETERY IS
LOCATED IN A NATURALISTIC SETTING AND FEATURES CURBING, INTERIOR
FENCING, VERTICAL STONES, OBELISKS, AND WOODMEN OF THE WORLD
GRAVE MARKERS.
IN ITS EARLY YEARS, FAMILY MEMBERS CARED FOR THE GROUNDS. BY 1926,
THE STEEP HOLLOW CEMETERY ASSOCIATION (SHCA) HAD FORMED TO
MAINTAIN THE CEMETERY. IN 1966, THE CHURCH OFFICIALLY TRANSFERRED
OWNERSHIP OF THE BURIAL GROUND TO THE SHCA. TODAY, STEEP HOLLOW
CEMETERY CONTINUES TO SERVE THE AREA AND PERSISTS AS A REMINDER
OF THE PIONEERING MEN AND WOMEN WHOSE HARD WORK AND SACRIFICE
CONTRIBUTED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STEEP HOLLOW COMMUNITY.
HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY — 2008
MARKER IS PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS