1857 Pioneer Family Cemetery in the Joe Pool Lake Area
Arlington Webb-Britton Road, Grand Prairie, TX 75052
Age
All Ages (daytime only; respect posted no-trespassing signs)
Cost
Free
Free. The cemetery is on private land posted no trespassing; respect the landowner. Grand Prairie has designated the site a Significant Landmark.
Access
Limited Access
Small rural cemetery; uneven ground; many original markers stolen or vandalized
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1857 · Grand Prairie Significant Landmark No. 38 · Pioneer Family Cemetery · 1857 Texas Burial Ground
Estes Cemetery is a documented pioneer cemetery in what is now Grand Prairie, Texas. James Estes and his family moved to the area in the mid-1850s, and after his wife Sarah died on April 16, 1857, he set aside one acre of his land for her burial. She was the first to be interred at what became Estes Cemetery.
The family's early years on the property included a particularly heavy run of deaths. James's granddaughter Mary A. Estes was buried on April 22, 1857, only days after her grandmother. His son Baalis was buried December 28, 1857. Another granddaughter, Texana T. Estes, was buried August 23, 1861. James himself died on March 23, 1864.
Silas Estes, James and Sarah's son, took over responsibility for the cemetery and opened it to friends and neighbors. By March 1996 the cemetery held over 140 burials from fifty known families. Many original gravestones have been stolen or vandalized over the decades, leaving an unknown number of unmarked graves.
The City of Grand Prairie has designated Estes Cemetery as Significant Landmark No. 38. The site sits in the Joe Pool Lake area; Joe Pool Lake itself was impounded in 1986 by the Trinity River Authority.
The Shadowlands narrative's claim of buried Civil War soldiers is not supported by the historical record, which documents the cemetery as a family pioneer burial ground.
Sources
Local folklore at Estes Cemetery includes a tight cluster of recurring accounts: a red light visible far down the road that recedes as visitors approach, voices and unexplained wind inside the cemetery, cold spots, sounds described as gunshots and screams attributed in the lore to Civil War soldiers, and reports of cars left locked appearing unlocked and bearing a small child's handprint on the windshield after visits.
The Civil War-soldier framing of the lore is not supported by the historical record, which documents Estes Cemetery as a family pioneer cemetery dating to 1857. The actual Estes family history - the deaths of Sarah Estes, her infant granddaughters, and her son within a short period - is a substantial enough piece of nineteenth-century rural-Texas tragedy to anchor the atmospheric reputation without requiring the legend framing.
The property is private land posted no trespassing. Visitors should view from the road only; the City of Grand Prairie's landmark designation does not grant public access to the burial ground itself.
View the City of Grand Prairie's Significant Landmark No. 38 from the public road. The cemetery is on private land posted no trespassing; the Shadowlands narrative's claim of buried Civil War soldiers is not supported by historical records, which document it as the Estes family pioneer cemetery dating to 1857.
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