Disappearing Black Cemetery in Bastrop County Provides Link to Past - Reporting Texas
“It hurts my heart to guess how often these (cemeteries) are lost,” Fly said. “I would say probably thousands have been lost over the centuries — just in Texas.”
In 2004, the Texas Historical Commission used surveys of the 49 fastest growing counties to estimate about 50,000 cemeteries exist in the state. But only 20,000 are known. Researching, locating and preserving each one is an arduous and complex process. Deed records, census records or, if possible, oral histories are all used in locating burial sites and recovering the life stories of the deceased.