Oak Rest Cemetery and Site of Prospect Presbyterian Church

Hugh Wilson spent ten years as a Presbyterian missionary to the Chickasaw, from 1822 to 1832, before he ever saw Texas. He was a Princeton graduate, and after touring the Republic in 1837 he taught at the Independence Female Academy and in 1839 organized this congregation. In 1844 he served as chaplain of the House when Congress met at Washington, and in 1857 he was moderator of the Synod of Texas. He later moved to what is now Lee County, founded the String Prairie church in 1852, and served it until his death in 1868.

What the plaque says

Oak Rest Cemetery and Site of Prospect Presbyterian Church The Rev. Hugh Wilson (1794-1868) organized Prospect Presbyterian Church at this site in February 1839. Located on land included in a Mexican land grant to James F. and Emily Perry, it was the second Presbyterian church founded in Texas. Worship services were conducted in a log schoolhouse where in 1840 the first Presbytery (Brazos) of Texas was organized. The congregation's second pastor, The Rev. James Weston Miller (1815-1888), founded Live Oak Female Seminary in 1853, and the church building housed some school classes. Under Miller's direction a foundation was laid here for a new sanctuary prior to the Civil War. The foundation stones, though never used, still exist. A new building was erected south of here near the seminary in 1872. The church disbanded in 1928 and its members transferred to Brenham Presbyterian Church. The 1872 building was dismantled in 1956. Among those interred in Oak Rest Cemetery are many pioneer members of Prospect Presbyterian Church, including the Miller family, and veterans of the Texas Revolution and the Civil War. Along with the nearby site of the Live Oak Female Seminary, the cemetery and church foundation stones serve as reminders of the area's pioneer heritage. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 5.7 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 16 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 17 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 18 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.

More markers nearby

• Live Oak Female Seminary — 0.4 mi
• Holly Oaks — 0.8 mi
• La Bahia Road — 2.3 mi
• Birthplace of Hedwig T. Kniker — 2.9 mi