Settlers from the southern United States founded Tennessee Colony in 1838, years before the formation of Anderson County. One of their first community efforts was construction of a log church building on a hill near this site. Located on the Manuel Riondo Land Grant of 1833, the Tennessee Colony Cemetery may include graves dating from the 1840s and 1850s, although no marked stones remain as evidence. A large vacant area in the center of the burial ground once included numerous fieldstones indicating the presence of individual gravesites. Over the years, however, the stones have been moved or misplaced. The earliest marked grave is that of Mrs. Manurva E. Shelton (b. 1831), who died on September 13, 1862. Other interments here include those of pioneer area settlers and their descendants, military veterans, members of local fraternal orders, and community leaders. In 1974, the heirs of M. S. Avant (1834 - 1906) formally deeded this land to the Tennessee Colony Cemetery Association. Still used, the Tennessee Colony Cemetery reflects over a century of the area's history dating from the days of the Republic of Texas. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986