Historical Marker

Live Oak Cemetery

The original four-acre section of this cemetry included land donated by James M. Turley (1816-83) and Andrew Jackson Hammett (1829-1907). The oldest grave is that of Turley's daughter, Tennessee Belle Hart, and her baby, who died on Aug. 27, 1874. A community church, erected near the burial ground in 1874, also housed a school from 1877 to about 1886. Pioneers in this area gathered each summer for a 10-day long camp meeting held under an adjacent brush arbor. Live Oak Cemetery was enlarged in 1948, when Herman Heep gave an additional 11.06 acres. The site contains about 1600 graves. (1976).