Fincastle Cemetery and Church

The Tindels' school came first. The Handbook of Texas says John and Mary Tindel began one in a small log building on their property, then put up a larger building for both school and church. Their inheritance later let Lydia Frances Tindel Parmer deed the church site and the large cemetery across the road to the town. Various congregations used the church on alternate Sundays, and it served as a school until the 1930s. A March 1862 deed made the title to lots void if Thomas Hendon sold liquor to the injury of the schools and church.

What the plaque says

Fincastle Cemetery and Church Little physical evidence remains of the early Henderson County community of Fincastle. The pioneer cemetery and church building at this site stand as reminders of this once-flourishing trade center. In 1851 Dr. Pleasant P. Adams deeded 1091 acres of land to John Tindel, and all marked graves date from that time. Tindel's daughter, Lydia Parmer, is credited with legally setting aside the land for public use. Dr. Adams' wife is said to have been among the first to be buried in the graveyard. Many pioneers of the community are interred here,including John and Mary Tindel and Daniel McRae, Fincastle's first postmaster, who is credited with naming the town. A number of different church buildings have occupied this site. Although early records of the churches have not been maintained, it is known that circuit preachers and local religious leaders held worship services here. Baptist and Methodist congregations worshiped on alternate Sundays. The church building also served as a schoolhouse and as a place to hold elections, political rallies and special events. Although no church congregation is associated with it today, the building continues to serve as a polling place and as the site of an annual homecoming celebration. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 13 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 21 mi
  More than 38,000 rose bushes of about 600 cultivars in a free city garden, beside a museum of the Texas Rose Festival, which began in 1933, and of the rose industry.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 22 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 25 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.

More markers nearby

• Fincastle — steps away
• Frankston City Park — 6.5 mi
• First Gravesite of Cynthia Ann Parker — 6.5 mi
• Davis Reynolds — 6.6 mi