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This hilltop cemetery has served the local community since 1867 when Martha Epperson Eaker and Hattie Phillips, daughters of pioneer settlers in the area, were buried here. Burials continued, and in 1877 the Epperson family donated land for the "benefit and convenience of San Fernando Valley." Cemetery trustees acquired another acre in 1889, the deed referring to the "old graveyard west of the Valley Springs." Renowned pioneer physician Dr. W. Y. Fowler (1860-1935), who began his 46-year Llano County practice at Valley Spring in 1889, acquired the surrounding ranch in 1897 and provided additional land for the cemetery. More than 100 graves in this cemetery are marked only with a rock or unlettered stone; many are believed to be those of young children. Forty headstones record a birthdate prior to Texas statehood in 1846. Veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II also are buried here. Cemetery maintenance, dependent on volunteers, resumed with the formal organization of the Valley Spring Cemetery Association in 1994. Improvements include water piped to the site, and many trees and plants added for beautification. The "old graveyard" continues to serve the families of Valley Spring. (1996) |
