TexasEscapes.com Texas Escapes Online Magazine: Travel and History
Columns: History, Humor, Topical and Opinion
Over 1600 Texas Towns & Ghost Towns
NEW : : TEXAS TOWNS : : GHOST TOWNS : : FEATURES : : COLUMNS : : ARCHITECTURE : : IMAGES : : SITE MAP
HOME
SEARCH SITE
ARCHIVES
RESERVATIONS
Texas Hotels
Hotels
Cars
Air
Cruises
 
  Texas : Towns A-Z / Central Texas South :

GAY HILL, TEXAS

Fayette County, Central Texas S
Highway 71
7 Miles E of La Grange
Population: Unknown

Book Your Hotel Here & Save
La Grange Hotels

Gay Hill Cemetery View  of Texas highway
View of Highway 71 from the cemetery
TE photos, November 2006
History in a Pecan Shell

This town was named after James Gay, whose brother Thomas founded another town named Gay Hill (in neighboring Washington County). This Gay Hill grew around a Republic of Texas plantation and stretched along a high ridge overlooking the Colorado River (a few miles south).

The town is indeed a hill - rising 370 feet above the level of the river but the cluster of houses and church isn't marked by any highway community sign. In the mid 1980s the community was comprised of 12 families and Gay Hill has no fewer than three cemeteries - one being an iron fence enclosure and marked as the Gay Hill Cemetery. It is reported that the cemetery is close to Indian burial grounds.
Gay Hill Cemetery Gate, Texas
Cemetery Gate
The Gay Hill cemetery is in an Oak mott on the ridge on the southside of the highway just west of the turn-off to the power plant. Access is difficult.
Christian Wertzner monument, Gay Hill Cemetery Texas 1936 Marker
Monument honoring Christian Wertzner, first permanent German settler in Fayette County
A 1936 Centennial marker stands outside the fence - marking the grave of Christian Gotthelf Wertner - a German immigrant from Saxony who, as a veteran of the battle of San Jacinto, was awarded a Fayette County land grant for his service to the Republic of Texas. Wertner is believed to be the earliest permanent German settler in the region and this is noted on the marker - as well as his status as a citizen of the Republic of Texas.
Gay Hill Cemetery Rufus King Gay tombstone
Tombstone of Private Rufus King Gay, CSA
Gay Hill Cemetery Gay family tombstone Texas
Gay family tombstone
Gay Hill Cemetery Infants Tombstone Texas
Infants Tombstone
Mary Guthrey Tombstone Gay Hill Cemetery Texas
Tombstone of Mary Guthrey
Neil Munn Tombstone Gay Hill Cemetery
Neil Munn Tombstone
James Gay Tombstone in Gay Hill Cemetery Texas
James Gay Tombstone
Herr Wertzner, who had helped to co-found the Biegel Settlement (now underwater at the power plant lake), died in a accident while working as part of a surveying crew at nearby Shaw's Bend (seven miles east of this spot). The graves within the enclosure are mainly of the Munn and Gay families.
Book Your Hotel Here & Save
La Grange Hotels
More Hotels

More Texas Towns
More Texas Cemeteries

Gay Hill, Texas Forum

Anyone wishing to share history or photos of Gay Hill, Texas, please contact us.

TE photos
© John Troesser
 
TEXAS TOWN LIST | TEXAS GHOST TOWNS | TEXAS COUNTIES
Texas Hill Country | East Texas | Central Texas North | Central Texas South |
West Texas | Texas Panhandle | South Texas | Texas Gulf Coast
TRIPS | STATES PARKS | RIVERS | LAKES | DRIVES | MAPS

TEXAS FEATURES
Ghosts | People | Historic Trees | Cemeteries | Small Town Sagas | WWII |
History | Black History | Rooms with a Past | Music | Animals | Books | MEXICO
COLUMNS : History, Humor, Topical and Opinion

TEXAS ARCHITECTURE | IMAGES
Courthouses | Jails | Churches | Gas Stations | Schoolhouses | Bridges | Theaters |
Monuments/Statues | Depots | Water Towers | Post Offices | Grain Elevators |
Lodges | Museums | Stores | Banks | Gargoyles | Corner Stones | Pitted Dates |
Drive-by Architecture | Old Neon | Murals | Signs | Ghost Signs | Then and Now
Vintage Photos

TRAVEL RESERVATIONS | USA

Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Recommend Us
Contributors | Staff | Contact TE
TEXAS ESCAPES ONLINE MAGAZINE
Website Content Copyright ©1998-2007. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved
This page last modified: July 3, 2007