Liberty, Liberty County
In 1848, eleven years after Liberty was incorporated, the town's trustees appointed a committee to select a suitable location for a community burial ground. Subsequently, this four-acre tract of land was chosen as the City Cemetery. Local leaders made no provisions for selling burial plots, so families were allowed to select the sites of their choice, often marking them with cypress or iron pickets. Although the graveyard contains numerous unmarked graves, the earliest known burial, that of four-year-old Caroline A. Lund, took place in August 1850. Many pioneer citizens of Liberty are buried here, as are a number of war veterans, including Franklin Hardin (1803-1878) and Cornelius de Vore (1819-1883), who participated in the battle of San Jacinto. Others buried in City Cemetery include E.B. Pickett (1823-1882), an early Texas statesman who served as president of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. By 1946, crowded conditions in this graveyard necessitated the opening of a new cemetery southeast of town. Although still in use, burials at this site now are limited to the families of persons already interred here. The gravesites are maintained by the Liberty Cemetery Association. (1983) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion attached to post.