Zimmerman Cemetery

Magnolia Beach, one of the two places this ground served, began as a failure. Northern entrepreneurs tried in the late 1800s to sell the land to settlers and could not, but camp cottages built for summer visitors did well. The name probably came from the Magnolia fig, grown, preserved and marketed here. In 1914 the resort had a telephone, a store and eighty people; by 1925 it had fifteen. A one-teacher school served four students in 1939. By 2008 the beach, with its pier and birdwatching, had grown to about 250 residents.

What the plaque says

Zimmerman Cemetery The earliest marked grave in the Zimmerman Cemetery, that of Georchim Wedig, is dated 1852. In 1863, Wedig's daughter Katherine married John Gonzales (1838-1918), who had come to Indianola in 1858 with Joseph Mendez (d. 1904) as a caretaker for a shipload of camels imported by the U.S. Army as part of an experiment in frontier transportation. Native of Spain, both Gonzales and Mendez are buried in the graveyard. The burial ground, which served the communities of Magnolia Beach and Indianola, takes its name from the family of August Zimmerman, a son-in-law of John Gonzalez. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 Supplemental plate (1989) Correction: The last line of the Zimmerman Cemetery historical marker should read "son-in-law of Joseph Mendez."

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Old Town Cemetery — 1.3 mi
• German Immigration Through Karlshafen — 1.4 mi
• Mrs. Angelina Bell Peyton Eberly — 1.8 mi
• The Great Camel Experiment — 1.9 mi