San Saba County Historical Commission

Bowser Bend Cemetery

LOCATION:
The Bowser Cemetery is located in northwest San Saba County at a bend in the Colorado River. The Bowser community was originally known as Bowser Bend. The cemetery is located about twelve miles north of the town of Richland Springs on land presently owned by Ida Lucille Draper.

GPS: Latitude: 31.4296o N     Longitude: 98.9641o W 

DIRECTIONS:
From the town of Richland Springs at the intersection of U. S. Highway 190 and Texas FM 45:
• Turn north onto FM 45. Pass through the town of Richland Springs.
• Continue north 9.9 miles on FM 45 to the intersection with FM 765.
• Turn left onto FM 765 (Elm Grove Road).
• Go west 1.4 mile on FM 765 to the intersection with County Road 241 (unpaved).
• Turn right onto CR 241. Go 0.4 mile to a cattle guard.
• Cross cattle guard and continue on winding, uphill road. Go past house on the left to a mail box on the left with a pasture road opposite it on the right.
• Turn right onto the pasture road that leads to the cemetery.


CONDITION:
    The Bowser Cemetery is among the oldest in San Saba County still in use as a burial ground in 2011. The oldest extant gravestone with an inscription with dates is that of Ada K. Hardin, born October 14, 1878, and died May 14, 1879. However, it is most probable that there were many earlier burials in this cemetery, but no records on earlier deaths and burials remain. 

    The cemetery was first called the Estes Family Cemetery, but the name was soon changed to Bowser Bend Cemetery named for Abel Bowser. Abel Bowser and his family were among the first to settle in what was to become San Saba County, and his grist mill and cotton gin became the center of the Bowser community first located at a bend in the Colorado River. However, this location was flooded often and in 1890 Paul Varga donated land about two miles to the south for the new location of a church and a cemetery. 
    
    When the Bowser Community moved and a new cemetery was established, use of the old site was discontinued as a community burial ground. There were a few burials at the old site after 1900, following which the Bowser Bend Cemetery lay abandoned in an open pasture for about ninety years. During this time the cemetery was consumed by cacti, mesquite trees, tall grass and blue thorn-brush. Many gravesites were damaged. 

    In 1984 C. B. Draper and wife Ida Lucille purchased the property on which the old cemetery is located. They cleaned and fenced the area and designated the area as their chosen future burial ground. C. Barton Draper died on August 10, 2006, and is buried in the Bowser Bend Cemetery. 

    The cemetery is an area of about two thirds of an acre. It is enclosed by an eight foot high net wire fence with metal posts. The entrance into the cemetery is a twelve foot wide gate located at the southeast corner of the cemetery. 

    Time, abandonment, and lack of maintenance have taken a heavy toll on this old cemetery. Due to weathering over time many of the tombstone inscriptions have deteriorated and cannot be deciphered. This is especially true in regard to the condition of most of the headstones fashioned from native sandstone. The inscription on many of these stones has weathered and aged to the extent that gathering of vital information is not possible. Many of the old sandstone markers had to be unearthed and scrubbed in order to find evidence of a once existing inscription. Some thorn brush and cactus had to be removed from around some gravesites.