San Saba County Historical Commission

Sides Gravesite

Location:   Eastern San Saba County

Directions:  

  • From San Saba city limit. Go east on U. S. 190 6.1 miles to CR 410 (unpaved).
  • Turn right onto CR 410. Go 2.1 miles to intersection with CR 412.
  • At the fork in the road, (left fork to McCoury 410) (right fork to McGregor 412), continue on left fork (CR 410) .9 mile to gate marked 4395.  This gate (padlocked) is to the property owned by Roy Truitt.  No public access. Permission to visit must be granted by owner.
  • This small cemetery with two gravesites is located in a pasture on a high bluff above the north bank of Burnt Branch, about ¾ mile from the mouth of Burnt Branch on the Colorado River.

 Condition:  This small cemetery has two gravesites.  The graves are situated end to end in an east-west orientation.  Each gravesite is completely surrounded by a two feet high sand rock fence 3 feet wide and 10 feet long .  The gravesites are spaced two feet apart, end-to-end. Each gravesite is overgrown with cedar trees, cactus, and bee brush, and infested with fire ants. Many of the rocks in the fences have fallen into the gravesites

 Inscriptions:

The gravesite on the west is that of ALFORD SIDES, born July 11, 1823, died November 11, 1884. The inscription on the headstone is "We will meet again." The headstone has been displaced and leaned against a wall of the enclosure. However, there is a footstone in place with the initials A.S. that clearly identifies this gravesite as that of Alford Sides. The gravesite to the east is thought to be that of Alford Sides' Native American wife. This gravesite has a headstone marker that is rounded and smooth, and there is some evidence of an inscription. However, it is not discernible. No footstone is visible because some of the rock wall has fallen into that end of the gravesite and there is a great accumulation of dirt and leaf debris in the area where a footstone would normally be located. There also is a large fire ant mound directly over this area.

Contact Persons:  Stan Burnham, Cindy Prater

            

Related Information:   About 100 yards from the Sides' gravesites and downhill near the Burnt Branch stream bed is a hand dug well and a rock watering trough. The rockwork is similar to that at the gravesites. The remains of a hand pump and a conduit to the trough are also at the well location. It is thought that the Sides' home site might have been in the near vicinity of this water source.

 Photographs and Information provided by Cindy Prater. More details later provided by Robert Wooly.