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Scottish Texans LbNA #54864 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Baby Bear
Plant date:Jul 31, 2010
Location:
City:Nelsonville
County:Austin
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Found by: Baby Bear
Last found:Jan 26, 2015
Status:FFFFFFaaFO
Last edited:Jul 31, 2010
Difficulty: Easy
Distance to Letterbox: 20 yards

***** Part of the Texas Imagrants series


**** WOW, box has come back from the dead and is in place again *********



The "Scottish Texans" letterbox is located in McGregor Cemetery, off a gravel road in the middle of nowhere! The Texas Historical marker says..... A group of settlers came to this area of western Austin County from North Carolina in the early 1850s. Many of the pioneers were originally from Lismore, Argyleshire county, Scotland, and had immigrated to the United States together. Included amoung the group were memebers of the McGregor, Carmichael, McLean, McDougald, and McLeod families. Galatia Presbyterian Church was founded nearby in October 1860, but was discountinued in 1883 after most of the members moved away from the area. The church property was sold and the proceeds donated to Austin College, a Presbyterian school founded in Huntsville, but relocated to Sherman in 1878. This cemetery, which contains fifteen marked graves, was established on August 22, 1868, with the burial of Mary McGregor (1793 - 1861), wife of Malcolm McGregor. Two days later another Scottish settler, Peter John McLean, died and was laid to rest in the graveyard. The cemetery continued to serve the small rural community until 1900, when six-year-old Billy Boy Carmighael was the last person interred here. Maintained by an association of descendants, the McGregor Cemetery is the last physical remnant of the area's pioneer Scottish settlement.

This is a small dusty cemetery, but is fairly well kept!

Directions:
From Bellville, go west on Hwy 159 to Nelsonville. Turn right on FM 2502. Go 8.8 miles (crossing Hwy 109) to Shelby Rd. Turn left (becomes gravel at this point) and go .4 miles, then right staying on Shelby Rd. Go 1.8 miles to Zeter Rd and turn left. Go about .4 miles to cemetery on your right (metal fence around it).

To the Letterbox:
Enter cemetery and find the only Crepe Mertle tree. Box is on far side middle base of tree, covered with tree bark and grass. RECOVER IT WELL!!!