Palo Duro Cemetery

Sunray, Texas 79086

Location: Sunray City; At edge of Sunray city limits sign on North Farm Road 199, turn east on FM 281 toward Morse-Spearman Highway. Go 7.5 miles. Turn south (right) on dirt road. A sign that reads “Clevy Lease—Phillips Pet Co.”. Go 5 miles, cemetery is across the road from Palo Duro Schoolhouse.

Source: Parsons, Kim, Ref. to Texas Cemeteries, 1988; Rootsweb; TxDot map 1997; usgennet; TxGenWeb; USGS; TxDot map 1936

About Historic Texas Cemetery Designation

To address the problem of cemetery destruction and to record as many cemeteries as possible, the Texas Historical Commission offers the Historic Texas Cemetery designation.

The Historic Texas Cemetery designation was developed in 1998 to help protect historic cemeteries by recording cemetery boundaries in county deed records to alert present and future owners of land adjacent to the cemetery of its existence. Every county in Texas has at least one cemetery designated as a Historic Texas Cemetery through this program. The HTC designation is the first step toward preservation of a historic cemetery.

A cemetery is eligible for designation if it is at least 50 years old and is deemed worthy of recognition for its historical associations. The very nature of a cemetery being a landmark of a family’s or community’s presence is considered to validate the criteria of historical associations. Any individual, organization, or agency may submit a request for designation.

gravesites

The cattle industry played a significant role in the development of Texas, with cowboys driving cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas during the late 1800s and early 1900s.