Lake Chapel Cemetery

Freestone County, Cemeteries of Texas

Submitted by Jimmy Epperson

Cemeteries of Texas Coordinator: Dolores I. Bishop

 Directions: 6 miles north of Fairfield on FM 488, then east .1 mile on Lake Chapel Cemetery Rd.

 Historical Marker

 Pioneers Simeon and Nancy Lake and their seven children settled in this area in the mid 1850’s. They built a home, cleared the land, and began farming. The settlement, which gradually built up around the Lake farm became known as Lake Chapel community after a small church, was built on their property about 1856. Known as Lake Chapel Methodist Church, it was also used by other denominations in the area. A schoolhouse was also constructed nearby, and two acres of land were set aside for a community burial ground. The earliest documented burial in the cemetery is that of the infant daughter of W.L. and Laura Lake Thornton. A granddaughter of Simeon and Nancy Lake, the child died at the age of five days in 1874. The church and school buildings were later moved from the property, and the graveyards size was increased over the years. Among those interred here are members of the Lake and other pioneer families, as well as veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea, and Vietnam. The diverse styles of grave markers, which can be seen in the cemetery, reflect the social history of the area, offering a glimpse into the customs and traditions of the past.