Zion Hill Baptist Church Cemetery

The Rev. Lawson Reed came to Nacogdoches in 1878 to find no organized Baptist church serving the black community. For a time, he attended the Union Church with other Baptists as well as Presbyterians and Methodists, sometimes leading services there. The Rev. Mr. Reed prevailed upon local Baptists to organize their own church, and in 1879 they began to meet under a brush arbor. Frank and Ellen Walton, Annie K. McClain, Jim and Annie Rigsby, Harriet Moore, Hattoe Vaughns, Velma Williams McCullough and the Reeds were the charter members of the church. The approach of winter forced them to seek other accommodations, and the Waltons gave two acres of land for a building. Though the presence of the church and a number of unmarked and undated graves suggest earlier interments at this site, the earliest marked grave is that of Julia Harris, who died on February 8, 1897. Hers is the only marked grave dating from the 19th century. The Zion Hill Baptist Church grew steadily from its inception and by the 1890s the congregation required a larger structure. Early members continued to be buried on this site until the burial of Charley Blakey in 1945. Among those buried here are the Rev. Lawson Reed (d. 1924), whose grave is marked by two stones; John B. Liggins (d. 1919), Amiel Rivers (d. 1932), and Jim Smith (d. 1938), who served in World War I. There are several markers denoting members of fraternal organizations. Over time, the cemetery fell into disrepair. In the early 1970s a movement began to have the city assume custodianship of the cemetery. The burial ground remains a chronicle of the African American pioneers of Nacogdoches. (2000)

Zion Hill Baptist Church Cemetery is a historical marker in Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, dedicated in 2000. It is one of 94 historical markers documented in Nacogdoches County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 232 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.6061, -94.6450 near Nacogdoches. The nearest cataloged historic site is "Los Ojos de Padre Margil" (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Zion Hill First Baptist, William Clark, Jr., and Dr. Robert Anderson Irion.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5347012110. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.