Baby Head, Texas

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Baby Head, Texas
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Baby Head
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Baby Head
Coordinates: 30°53′18″N98°39′11″W / 30.88833°N 98.65306°W / 30.88833; -98.65306 [1]
Country United States
State Texas
County Llano
Elevation
[1]
1,375 ft (419 m)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID1351376 [1]

Baby Head or Babyhead is a ghost town in Llano County, Texas, United States. [1] The townsite and associated Baby Head Cemetery lie along Texas State Highway 16, approximately nine miles north of Llano. Babyhead Mountain lies about 4000 feet to the west and rises roughly 250 feet above the site. [2]

According to the book 1001 Texas Place Names, the name "Baby Head" was given to the town following an attack by Indians where the head of a baby belonging to one of the settlers was placed atop a pole. Besides the mountain, a nearby creek also bears the name. [3]

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Baby Head Cemetery is a cemetery located on Highway 16, approximately 9 miles north of the city of Llano, Texas. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1991, Marker 9432. The sign reads as follows:

According to local oral tradition, the name Babyhead was given to the mountain in this area in the 1850s when a small child was killed by Native Americans in the United States, and its remains left on the mountain. A local creek also carried the name, and a pioneer community founded in the 1870s became known as Baby Head. The oldest documented grave here is that of another child, Jodie May McKneely, who died on New Year's Day 1884. The cemetery is the last physical reminder of the Baby Head community, which once had numerous farms, homes and businesses.

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Wayside is a small unincorporated community in Lynn County, Texas, United States. Today, the community is best described as a ghost town, with only a few farms and ranches scattered across the area.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Baby Head, Texas
  2. Cherokee, Texas, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1956 (1987 rev)
  3. Tarpley, Fred (July 5, 2010). 1001 Texas Place Names. University of Texas Press. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-292-78693-6.