Texas Cemeteries

So many beautiful cemeteries throughout the Texas Independence Trail Region. Get out and search through these touchstones of our history.
Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence

Who were these 59 men creating a new nation, The Republic of Texas, in 1836?
Galveston Gateway
Not every soon-to-be-Texan arrived by land during the state’s greatest era of immigration. Many, in fact, came by sea (including Africans, forced into ships and then sold as slaves). Most of the first free-willed immigrants, however, came from northern and western Europe, disembarking at Galveston where the state’s barrier island served as a southern version of Boston, San Francisco, and New Orleans, other ports along the country’s coastline providing immigration processing. These ports, including Galveston, were in service to immigration long before New York City’s Ellis Island.
Painted Churches

Texas in the 19th century experienced an era of expansion unlike the countryside had ever seen before. Although Spanish colonial and Mexican forces made the road to statehood difficult, their influences were now part of the Texas narrative and here to stay. Alongside early Anglo and Hispanic settlers already established in the region, a new wave of European arrivals began to make their mark across Texas including large numbers of Germans and Czechoslovakians. Not only did these new Texans bring their own languages and cultural preferences, they also brought their own architectural styles and designs. Fortunately, many examples survive today including a unique collection of community worship centers known now as the Painted Churches.