I felt like we were walking a maze
Or perhaps in an August sun haze
Old graves and new
Trimmed and overgrown, too
Enough for an ogling daze.
Oliver Cemetery -- according to signage on sight, but I've seen it referenced as Oliver-Powell Cemetery as well -- seems to cover a lot of ground. Graves are clustered, and there are great swaths of 'unoccupied' ground. Headstones run the gamut of imposing monuments to tiny cast iron. Some graves have engraved slabs rather than headstones -- and it's fairly creepy to discover a whole line of such, crumbling and overgrown, off in the bushes. If you're interested in the sociology of graveyards, this place is for you!
It also boasts a historical marker, erected in 1936, to Captain John Campbell Hunt, a San Jacinto veteran.
Sometimes refered to as Oliver-Powell Cemetery.
There is also a smaller, Hispanic, I'm told, cemetery just outside the Oliver Cemetery grounds within its own fenced area. It contains, maybe 50 or so graves, and is obviously well tended.
Just under 200 graves are listed by USGEN (http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/bastrop/cemetery/oliver.txt) and Cemeteries of Texas (which seems a repeat of the former, but here's the link: (
visit link) HOWEVER, we discovered many graves seriously overgrown by bushes, so this count may be inexact.
I wish I could find more HISTORY on the location, but there were no plaques, and the on-line presense seems to be transcription only. Room for future research, yes?
Location, off Hwy 71 on County Road 174 at the county sign stating Oliver Cemetery. The road is named Powell Cemetery Rd.