this was great information thanks for sharing it ---------- > From: Ed Walker <edwalker@web-access.net> > To: TXBASTRO-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [TXBASTRO] Oak Hill > Date: August 30, 2000 10:06 PM > > Not sure if this will help anyone but here goes.. > > ********************************** > > OAK HILL, TEXAS (Bastrop County). Oak Hill was on the > old > Bastrop-McDade road four miles southwest of McDade in > northern > Bastrop County. The land was part of the Martin Walker > grant on > Piney Creek. Walker began selling part of his land in > 1849, and the > Oak Hill community developed. The earliest marked > graves in the > community cemetery are dated 1868, but other unmarked > graves are > probably several years older. In 1879 the Oak Hill > school and > church bought forty acres on which to build a new > facility. The > building was initially shared by Methodist Episcopal, > Presbyterian, > and Christian denominations, and in 1882 Baptist > services began to > be offered. Oak Hill was primarily a farming > community, with cotton > and corn grown as cash crops; vegetables and livestock > were also > raised, but mostly for subsistence. In 1905 the Oak > Hill school had > thirty-nine students and one teacher. When the county > implemented a > district system in 1907, Oak Hill became the focus of > a common > school district. In the early 1940s the United States > government > chose the area around Oak Hill as the site for Camp > Swift, and > residents had to move. Homes and businesses were sold, > moved, > torn down, or used as training targets. Though some of > the land in the > Oak Hill area was returned to its former owners in the > late 1940s > when the camp was reduced in size, the community was > not rebuilt. > Former residents established a cemetery association to > repair and > maintain the Oak Hill cemetery. The community name was > not shown > on county highway maps in the 1980s. > > BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fay Pannell, "The Black Cemetery at Oak > Hill," > Sayersville Historical Association Bulletin, Summer > 1985. Duford > W. Skelton and Martha Doty Freeman, A Cultural > Resource > Inventory and Assessment at Camp Swift, Texas (Texas > Archeological Resource Report No. 72, Austin: Texas > Archeological > Survey, University of Texas at Austin, 1979). Ruth > Smith and Fay > Pannell, "Oak Hill: A Vanished Community," Sayersville > Historical > Association Bulletin, Summer 1984. > > Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl > > Ed Walker > edwalker@web-access.net > > > ==== TXBASTRO Mailing List ==== > To send a post to the BASTROP COUNTY, TEXAS list, > send your message to TXBASTRO-L@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Genealogy calendars, guestbooks and more: > Visit RootsWeb's Resource Center at > http://resources.rootsweb.com/