West Mountain Cemetery

Many graves here are marked with local iron ore rocks, according to the county's genealogy site, which also notes numerous unmarked graves. The Phillips family monuments stand in the back left corner. G. H. Baird's 1946 county history says Alph Phillips settled near the center of West Mountain, built a large hewn-log house, and gave land for the cemetery and school. Baird adds that a son, Ben, served in the legislature, and Lon Phillips, a son of Jim Phillips, was county clerk and county judge. Baird records one church in the settlement, the Church of Christ.

What the plaque says

West Mountain Cemetery Part of a Republic of Texas land grant formerly occupied by Caddo and Cherokee Indians, this cemetery was established in the mid-1850s by plantation owner Alpha Phillips. The first grave, that of his father, William, is marked with a stone cairn. The family cemetery came to be used by neighbors, West Mountain community residents, and transients. A volunteer association was begun in the 1920s to maintain the grounds, and its members have added acreage to the graveyard over the years. Originally known as Old Phillips Cemetery, it has been called West Mountain Cemetery since 1933. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• East Texas Oil Museum — 17 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• Tyler State Park — 23 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 26 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.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 29 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.

More markers nearby

• Upshur County Discovery Well — 2.9 mi
• Union Grove Schools — 3.1 mi
• Site of Shiloh School — 4.3 mi
• Shiloh Baptist Church — 4.4 mi