McCree Cemetery
Situated in the Lake Highlands neighborhood in Dallas, McCree Cemetery is the final resting place for many of north Texas’ founding families. Our past informs our present and points to our future.
About the Project
Versar, Inc. was contracted by Preservation Dallas in January 2014 to conduct an archeological survey and historical research on McCree Cemetery. The project forms the basis of a restoration program of McCree Cemetery in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas. A historic context and an archeological investigation of McCree Cemetery was conducted. The purpose of the investigation was to determine a chronological history of McCree Cemetery and the surrounding tracts of land. The restoration program’s goal is to record, preserve, and restore the cemetery monuments and establish guidance for the continued stewardship of McCree Cemetery.
In 2018, McCree Cemetery was listed as a City of Dallas historic landmark.
In 2019, documentation of the cemetery by drone and landscape cleanup.
In 2021, cleaning of the stones is underway as well as the ongoing restoration. Following the completion of stone restoration additional drone documentation will be conducted.
Come and be a part of history!
Special Thank You
B. B. Owen Foundation
Preservation Dallas
Friends of McCree Cemetery
Robin Moss Norcross
Versar, Inc.
Mark Willis Archaeology
The McCree Cemetery Association
The McCree Cemetery Association is a 501 C 3 organization and is charged with the care of McCree Cemetery and the ongoing opportunity to educate others about this historically significant final resting place for many of north Texas’ founding families.
For more information/to become a member of the McCree Cemetery Association please fill out and submit this form.
About the Cemetery
McCree Cemetery is a post-civil war burial
ground deeded in 1866 to Mauldah
Bonner McCree. Several acres of land
that encompass McCree Cemetery were
bought by the McCree family prior to its
first burial. At that time, the property
was upon a hilltop of a vast prairie, far
from Dallas proper.
Those buried there hail from the rural
communities around them, including
the Audelia and Rogers hamlets. The
cemetery was expanded in 1896 to include
space for the residents of the
freed African American enclave of Little
Egypt. To the north of the cemetery
(between the cemetery itself and the
residential alleyway), two congregations
held their services in the church by the
graveyard through the 1930s and early
1940s. These congregations included
the Cemetery Chapel Episcopal Methodist
Church and the Rodgers Baptist
Church.
The neighborhood adjacent to the cemetery
was not developed until the 1960s.
Today, the stewardship and preservation
of the cemetery is carried out by Preservation
Dallas in partnership with Friends
of McCree Cemetery through the generosity
of the B. B. Owen Foundation.
