Following the completion of a years-long, successful restoration project, the historic Oakwood Cemetery Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired plot has reopened. The plot was established in the 1880s, with the last internment taking place more than a century ago. The project to restore the plot was a joint effort between the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, TSVBI and Save Austin’s Cemeteries and included:
- Disassembling, storing, and cleaning 18 burial tablets and bases in a climate-controlled environment
- Reattaching seven broken tablets
- Creating new cement bases for 13 of the 18 tablets
- Resetting all 18 burial tablets contained in the TSBVI plot
- Cleaning the plot’s ground by TSBVI students
A press release from the city touts the parks department’s dedication to preservation of its historic cemeteries and asks anyone interested in the restoration of family lots located in Austin Memorial Park Cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery, Oakwood Cemetery, Oakwood Annex Cemetery and Plummers Cemetery to contact Parks and Recreation’s Cemetery Division by phone at 512-978-2320 or email.