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OATMEAL,
TEXAS
Burnet County,
Texas Hill Country
Farm Road 243
8 miles SE of Burnet
56 miles NW of Austin
Population: (est) 20
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The community
center where the Oatmeal Festival is held.
This was the third school. Photo Courtesy Jack Williams, 2002 |
History
in a cylindrical cardboard box:
The name is perhaps a corruption of Othneil who was an early businessman
in the area.
A timeline
of significant historic events in Oatmeal:
1849: The
first settlers were German families
1853: A post office was granted under the name Oatmeal
1854: The first people are buried in what will eventually become
the Oatmeal Cemetery (see photographer's note below)
1858: the first schoolhouse was built
1869: a second school was constructed
1871: The cemetery is deeded |
The old stone
school/church
Photo Courtesy Jack Williams, 2002 |
| Photo Courtesy
Jack Williams, 2002 |
| Photo courtesy
Stephen Danesi |
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The
Oatmeal water tower (standpipe)
Photo courtesy
Stephen Danesi, 2005 |
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| An all-black
cemetery was set up in eastern Oatmeal in a Black community called
Stringtown. Formed of Freedmen (and women) after the Civil
War, the town melted away during the 1920s. The same fate nearly befell
Oatmeal, but there were enough people to maintain the town until they
came up with the annual Oatmeal Festival - a tongue-in-cheek
celebration of the once mandatory hot breakfast food. |
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The
headstone of Mary Smith,
the first documented burial in the Oatmeal Cemetery
Photo Courtesy Jack Williams |
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Photographer's
Note:
While staying at my sister's lake house in Burnet, I made it a point
to go over and take pictures of Oatmeal for your site. While there,
I poked around and found some interesting facts.
From an excellent history posted at the Cemetery by Maxine
Glimp I found that the first postmaster of Oatmeal was Judge John
R. Scott, who was also the first Chief Justice of Burnet county. He
was murdered around May of 1863 and his remains were discovered some
time later - identified by a deformed jawbone.
Oatmeal was also the site of the first orchard in the state and the
1st and only cheese press.
... The Cemetery has many of the early pioneers interred there, the
oldest recorded graves are those of Mary Smith and her year old daughter,
buried there on September 16, 1854. They were killed when a horse
threw them. Veterans of the Civil war, WWI and WWII are also buried
here. ... Thanks for letting me contribute, it's fun! - Jack Williams,
October 01, 2002 |
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