Liberty Hill Cemetery

The first postmaster is buried here. William Oliver Spencer (1810-1896), who suggested the name Liberty Hill when the post office opened in 1853, and his wife Margaret rest in this cemetery, according to the county historical commission. In 1854 the Spencers opened a pioneer church and school. The brush arbor beside it, called Silent Grove, hosted summer services and camp meetings until 1882, when services moved to the town relocated by the railway. The Spencers also donated a lot to the Missionary Baptist Church South. A Masonic lodge was chartered at Liberty Hill in 1875.

What the plaque says

Liberty Hill Cemetery Weathered gravestones show usage of this spot for burials since 1852, when the earliest settlers were establishing homes in area. The first formal grant of land here as a community burial ground was made by John T. and Amelia Edwards Bryson in 1875, when three and one-half acres were deeded to the Liberty Hill cemetery trustees: T. N. Bryson, C. C. Chance, W. H. Poole, J. B. Roddy, and T. S. Snyder. This acreage was protected by a stone fence built with their own hands by the Brysons and their neighbors. Additions to original plot include land formerly owned by John T. Bryson and donated by Dr. and Mrs. H. L. Fowler. Royal Arch Masons in 1932 established an adjacent three-acre Masonic cemetery, later transferring title to the Liberty Hill Lodge No. 432, A.F. & A.M., which gave it in 1959 to the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association. By later land purchases, the cemetery now contains more than twenty acres. Funds have come by bequests from Walter Gardner, Arthur Gray, and T. L. McDaniel. Many other persons have also contributed to funds for the cemetery. In 1953 the Liberty Hill Cemetery Association was incorporated, with Dr. J. Gordon Bryson as president; C. L. Chance, vice president; C. F. Hickman, treasurer; and Mrs. Letitia Russell, secretary.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 8.5 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.
• Inner Space Cavern — 16 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• Williamson County Courthouse — 16 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• The Round Rock — 19 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Liberty Hill — 0.4 mi
• Williams-Buck Cemetery — 4.2 mi
• Hopewell Cemetery — 4.5 mi
• Site of Prairie Point Community — 5.4 mi