Payne Springs Methodist Church and Cemetery

The name comes from William K. Payne, who settled here in 1850, served in Company E of the Thirteenth Texas Cavalry and was a delegate to the Texas secession convention, according to the Handbook of Texas. By 1888 the community had a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a blacksmith, a general store, a gristmill and a gin. The post office opened in 1890 as Payne's Spring, the name became Payne Spring in 1894, and the office closed in 1905. In the 1940s the population was 68.

What the plaque says

Payne Springs Methodist Church and Cemetery For over a century, this church and cemetery have served the community of Payne Springs, originally known as Mallard Prairie. By 1880 the church already had a large membership and met in a log structure. The church building served as a gathering place for elections and political rallies. Summer revivals were held under a brush arbor on the church grounds. The revivals often lasted two weeks and were social as well as religious events. Local tradition indicates the cemetery was started when a child from a family traveling west was buried by a small cedar tree in the churchyard. The first marked grave was that of a mother and daughter who were buried on the other side of the cedar. Elenor Reynolds (1812-1880) and her daughter, Mary Ann Davis (1829-1880), died within a day of each other. The Mallard Prairie School once stood near the church and cemetery. It later moved across the road, and the growth of the cemetery took in land where the school and early church buildings stood. The burial ground now contains over 1,000 graves. An annual July 4th workday evolved into a fund raising event for the cemetery's upkeep. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Purtis Creek State Park — 6.7 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 18 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.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 27 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.

More markers nearby

• Site of Centerville — 3.5 mi
• Ham (Pauline) — 3.6 mi
• Cockerell Hospital — 4.2 mi
• Goshen Cemetery — 6.1 mi