Cemetery Pond - Update 10/14

UPDATE -

With the help of Texas Facility Commission plumbers and electricians along with a private contractor and our groundscrew, the pond has been fixed and is flowing again. We appreciate our visitors patience during this time of repair.

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If you've visited the Cemetery in the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed that the pond that runs through the Cemetery is dry. It's kind of hard not to notice, it's one of the central features of the Cemetery. Usually it looks very nice and we get a lot of compliments.

But right now it looks like this:

We are working on the issue. It comes down to one of the pumps that keeps the pond recirculating burned out a few weeks ago. The Texas Facilities Commission and the Texas State Cemetery grounds crew should have it fixed in the next couple of days. From a history standpoint, the pond has looked worse. Before it was a beautiful water feature, the pond was a drainage ditch that helped drain the Cemetery and the surrounding blocks in times of big rains. During the 1994-1997 renovation, the ditch was turned into the pond. It took quite a bit of labor and engineering to get it what it looks like today. Before the renovation it looked like this:

Despite the lack of water today, the pond looks pretty good compared. During the renovation, the ditch was expanded. The fill from the digging was put on top of the hill in the northeastern portion of the Cemetery, creating the view of downtown we have today. That hill has changed over the years as well. The following two images were taken by the caretaker's daughter in the 1920s. One is a view of the center of the Cemetery from the caretaker's cottage's backyard, the other is a similar view.

Come by in the next few days and we'll have the pond back up and running.

- WE