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A Bit Of History And Macabre On The Eastside Cemetery Tour

The people interred in the city’s Eastside cemeteries have many stories to tell, but they’re not talking. Luckily, Nicholas Fuqua with the Office of Historic Preservation said there’s still a lot to hear on the Eastside Cemetery Tour.

"We’re going to look at some historic graves from prominent Texans, look at funerary art and architecture, iconography, tell a little bit of history about the development of the city cemetery, and why it’s where it is and why it looks the way it does," Fuqua said. "So hopefully it’ll be an educational experience for everybody."

He also said something surprising about a downtown park.

“Originally the burials took place where Milam Park is today," Fuqua said. "But about 1853 they started moving he burials outside of downtown, which was in keeping with the rural cemetery movement that began in the 1830s."

The 90-minute tour is designed to take in a wide variety of graveyards.

"We have African-American burial grounds, we have Jewish burial grounds, we’ve got Catholic, we have got a Confederate cemetery," Fuqua said.

What do people do? Do they walk a specific route with a guide?

"We do, we have guides, we have both walking and running guides," he said.

The tour costs $15 and also comes with a t-shirt.

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii