Coryell County unveils historical marker at Greenbriar Cemetery

The Greenbriar Cemetery marker now gives Coryell County’s rural burial ground a permanent public place in local history, connecting the site about nine miles east of Gatesville to the Burt family, early settlement along Greenbriar Creek and more than a century of community memory.

The cemetery began with Alabama native Robert C. Burt and his wife, Margaret Emmeline Duncan Burt, who started farming the land near Greenbriar Creek in 1878. In 1880, Burt deeded one acre for a public burial ground. The site was once known as Old Burt Cemetery, and the oldest marked grave belongs to the Burts’ infant son, who died in 1880.

What started as a family burial place has grown to 2.51 acres and now holds more than 250 burials, including at least 25 military tombstones. Cemetery databases continue to document the ground as well, with Find a Grave listing 276 memorial records and PeopleLegacy listing 226 burial records, a sign that families and genealogists still see Greenbriar as an active source of local history.

The Coryell County Historical Commission unveiled the marker as part of its mission to preserve, protect and promote county history and to recommend historical marker placements. Sherry Lawrence, Cathy Taylor and David Scott were among the commission members present at the unveiling, and Greenbriar Cemetery Association president Bill Dudark thanked Lawrence and others for helping make the installation possible.

The marker matters because it does more than identify a graveyard. Under Texas Historical Commission policy, a historic cemetery designation can record a cemetery’s location and boundaries in county deed records, help preserve the site for future landowners and serve as a prerequisite for an official Texas historical marker. The state also says cemetery markers are part of a broader program meant to commemorate places, events and people important to Texas history.

For Coryell County, Greenbriar’s marker preserves the story of an early farm family, a small rural cemetery and the military service represented among its graves. It also strengthens the county’s own historical record by making sure a place once known only to local families now stands recognized as part of the public landscape around Gatesville.