When San Antonio resident Maria Pfeiffer pays her respects to the dead, she does so as the descendent of people buried for over a century in at least two cemeteries on the city’s East Side.
But Pfeiffer is also a preservationist who has worked for years to improve conditions in the public and private graveyards sprawling across 103 acres.
Only nine of the 31 contiguous cemeteries are publicly owned. But the city is now taking a closer look at what can be done to make the entire area safer and more inviting — even as funding for improvements remains in question.
In 1990, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) followed up a historic survey of the cemeteries and outlined a number of suggested improvements and tree and plant maintenance.
In 2000, the Eastside Cemeteries Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places based on a nomination co-authored by Pfeiffer.
Twenty-four years later, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department resurrected the HUD plan and embarked on a series of public meetings and surveys to talk about the cemeteries, a process that began in 2024.
“The first meeting was really [about] gathering and understanding of the space, how it’s being used, and what is important to those who are using the space,” said Molly Pell, project manager for Dunaway, a planning and landscape consulting firm hired by the city.
They then invited the public to submit ideas for improvements and prioritize them.
The final master plan, based on that feedback and due this spring, recommends everything from planting shade trees and installing benches to putting up new wayfinding signage and limiting the number of entrances.
It also suggests more coordinated events, like movie nights and picnics, be held in the cemeteries, along with a mapping effort possibly in coordination with a local university.
The plan recommends establishing a volunteer group that would help maintain the cemeteries and that could, at some point in the future, evolve into a designated nonprofit organization, like the Brackenridge Park Conservancy or the Hardberger Park Conservancy.
Already, a team of a dozen or so volunteers coordinated by the Office of Historic Preservation assists with regular cleaning and repairing of headstones.
The oldest known gravesite, which sits in one of the city’s oldest cemeteries, belongs to a woman who emigrated from Alsace and died in 1854.
Many well-known names appear among the 26,000 grave markers, including Alamo saviors Clara Driscoll and Adina De Zavala, “Eyes of Texas” composer John Lang Sinclaire, politician Samuel Augustus Maverick, River Walk designer Robert H.H. Hugman and Mount Rushmore builder Lincoln Borglum.
“Another long-term goal would be to have a dedicated cemetery manager and division within Parks and Recreation,” Pell said.
The historic Oakwood Cemetery in Austin is one example of that. “Other cities that we looked at that have similar cemeteries, they have a separated cemeteries division,” Ramos said.
But improving safety and security in the cemeteries also has risen to the top of the priority list.
About a dozen people gathered recently at a Wheatley Sports Complex building for a plan preview.
Pfeiffer and some of the others who help oversee maintenance of the private graveyards said they were pleased to hear that the recommendation to add more lighting would apply to the entire district.
“Many of my older relatives wouldn’t go there anymore to tend the graves because they were afraid,” said Andy Kerr. “I think the lighting will help with that and to bring more emphasis to it as a public place.”
Parks and Rec Marketing Manager Connie Swann said no vandalism has been reported, or related work orders placed, for the Eastside cemeteries during the last two years.
Spending on other security measures, however, such as fencing and securing access points, could be applied only to the city-owned cemeteries, Pell said.
Pfeiffer was satisfied with that approach, hopeful that the city would share its expertise on such elements with the people running the private cemeteries.
The timeline for making cemetery improvements is dependent on funding, some of which could come from grants, said Nikki Ramos, assistant director of Parks and Rec.
“Which is why some of those [ideas] are considered long-term goals,” Ramos said. “Part of what the master plan was tasked with doing was coming up with funding options so it doesn’t necessarily have to fall on the city budget.”
But cemetery projects would have to be prioritized in the budget along with everything else, she said.
Pfeiffer said her church spends about $40,000 a year simply keeping St. John’s mowed and trimmed. While the city cuts the grass and maintains the public cemeteries, some of the private ones in the area are not regularly tended, despite historic significance in some cases.
It’s not known yet whether the final plan will be presented to City Council or a council committee, Ramos added.
