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Visitor's Overlook

Type: Trail

Length: 2.00 Miles

Elevation Gain: N/A

Cost: Free

Rating:

(2.00)2

Difficulty: 1point5stars

(1.50)

Solitude:

(2.50)

ADA Accessible: No

Bikes Allowed: N/A

Dogs Allowed: N/A

Interpretive Guide: No

City: Brenham

County: Washington

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Photos

This huge owl took off in front of me and landing on this branch. (Photo by Blaze)

This trail map can be found at the trailhead. (Photo by Blaze)

For reference purposes, the trail starts on the side of and behind the dam. (Photo by Blaze)

This red-colored turtle was in the middle of the trail, but not moving. He almost looked rubber and very out of place. (Photo by Blaze)

This snake was about 5 feet long. (Photo by Blaze)

The sign says "Williams - Quarry Cemetery, Circa 1904-1958". (Photo by Blaze)

The trail has distance and direction markers. (Photo by Blaze)

Once you are able to find the trail, it is incredibly well-marked. (Photo by Blaze)

The trail is not the dirt path you see running off to the left. Instead, my finger is pointing to the trailhead in the bushes. (Photo by Blaze)

Log Entries

nice little hike
By soltex41 on 12/22/2013
Rating: 3stars

Difficulty: 2stars

Solitude:

Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A

a nice short hike. Really sirprized that the trail head is not better marked. Spend some time pokng around the cematery. Here is some information about the town of Quarry and link abut the cemitary

QUARRY, TEXAS. Quarry is on Wolf Creek 1½ miles from Lake Somerville and fourteen miles from Brenham in extreme northern Washington County. It derived its name from its stone quarries, the economic base of its prosperity in the 1890s. By 1884 Quarry was a station on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. In 1891 its post office opened with Ananias M. Conover as postmaster. By 1896 Quarry had grown into a small distribution center with a justice of the peace, a sheriff, a lawyer, two doctors, a hotel, and a Baptist church. Quarry commerce flourished briefly with cotton processing, the development of quarries, and an influx of railroad employees. Commercial competition from larger Gay Hill, in Washington County, and the decline of stone quarrying in the area resulted in the rapid elimination of the commercial and processing sectors in Quarry. The community's post office was closed in 1905. Later in the twentieth century Quarry had several railroad tie manufacturing factories. In the 1980s ranching was the economic base of this community, in which the population was by then predominantly black. The name was still listed as a community in 1990.

Williams- Quarry is a cemetery that is no longer used. I have been told it was an African American cemetery that was abandoned in the mid-fifties when it was decided that the Somerville Cemetery would allow burials based on where you lived instead of race. Many of the graves are unmarked. Volunteers of the Army Corp of Engineers are doing some maintenance of it. They have tried to drum up some enthusiasm of the local family members for it's maintenance in years past but with no luck. There may not be many local family members left. Marked graves show burials between 1911 to 1955. Family names include the following: Bouldin, Franklin (WWII vet), Harris, Hunt, Robinson, Ratliff, Sayles, Spencer, Williams and Young.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/tx/topic/cemeteries/Etx/Washington/Cemetery/Williams.htm

I See Dead People
By Blaze on 5/1/2013
Rating:

Difficulty:

Solitude:

Distance: 2.30 Miles Duration: 49 minutes

This is a weird and bizarre trail.

First of all, it is very difficult to find. There are no signs posted saying "Visitor's Overlook". I found out about this trail after seeing it listed on a Somerville Lake Trails map, but it did not say exactly where it was or how to get there! It's on the side of and behind the Lake Somerville Dam. I basically found it by using my vehicle GPS and sniffing it out with my trail hunting skills. However, once I found the trail, it was incredibly well marked! Think about it - an incredibly well-marked trail that no one knows exists or can find. Weird!

Second, the trail leads you to a cemetery. This is the highlight. Not a regular cemetery, mind you, but an unattended one hidden away in the woods. No roads lead to this cemetery (as far as I know), just this trail. A trail that takes you to dead people. Kinda creepy.

To make matters worse, when I got to the cemetery, I almost stepped on a cottonmouth snake in the grass. I didn't even see it, but I noticed something move near my boot as I was walking and when I looked I saw a snake with his head raised. He was poised like the snake on that "Don't Tread On Me" flag. Of course, I observed all of this from about 5 feet in the air because I jumped in sheer terror, lol. A venomous snake... in front of this creepy, hidden cemetery... maybe this is where careless hikers die and are never heard from again?

After that adrenalin pumping ordeal, every root and twig on the trail looked like a snake. I guess I was being hypervigilant (translation: paranoid and spooked). On the way back, I saw a turtle on the trail. He seemed oddly out of place. I also saw a huge owl. I've been hiking for years and never seen an owl before. Just more weirdness.

Maybe there was a reason there was no "Visitor's Overlook" sign???