Dead Man's Hole

The Handbook of Texas describes the hole as a sinkhole cave in the Honeycut Formation of the Ellenburger Group, formed by limestone dissolving, not by gas pressure. It went by Burnam's hole until after the Civil War. University of Texas spelunkers of the 1950s and 1960s reported bad air below. The killings it is known for came in a divided county: Thomas Moore voted for secession at the 1861 convention, but Burnet County voters rejected it, 248 to 159. In 1999 Ona Lou Roper gave the hole and 6.5 acres to the county as a park.

What the plaque says

Dead Man's Hole Entomologist Ferdinand Lueders made the earliest recorded discovery of this cave in 1821. Notorious in the Civil War era, the hole is believed to have been the dumping ground for up to 17 bodies, including those of pro-Union Judge John R. Scott and settler Adolph Hoppe, several Reconstruction-era county government officials, and Ben McKeever, who had a conflict with local freedmen. An oak tree which once stood over the cave was said to have rope marks caused by hangings. Powerful gases prevented thorough exploration of the site until 1951. The hole was platted in 1968 by the Texas Speleological Society and was found to be 155 feet deep and 50 feet long. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Longhorn Cavern State Park — 12 mi
  A cave carved by an underground river in the Hill Country, cleared of mud by hand in the 1930s and reached down 52 stone steps on a guided tour.
• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 13 mi
  A free federal refuge north of Lake Travis kept for two songbirds that need old juniper and oak, with trails at the Doeskin Ranch unit near Bertram.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 15 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.
• Pedernales Falls State Park — 15 mi
  The Pedernales stepping down over layered limestone east of Johnson City, a river that can turn from a placid stream to a torrent in minutes.

More markers nearby

• Captain Jesse Burnam — 2.0 mi
• Marble Falls Factory Site — 2.8 mi
• Michel's Drug Store — 3.1 mi
• St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church — 3.3 mi