Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 24, 2026, 9:21 p.m.

Festooned with nearly a dozen Texas State Historical Markers describing the exploits of its permanent inhabitants, Old Bayview Cemetery was founded in 1845 as the United States pushed westward, and the Mexican-American War loomed over the annexation of Texas. General Zachary Taylor, who would later become the 12 th President of the United States, was tasked with securing Texas after annexation.

Before that however, Taylor’s Army was building up its forces and ferrying them through the shallows of Corpus Christi Bay. On September 13 th , 1845, the steamship Dayton suffered a boiler explosion that killed seven men.

Corpus Christi founder and major real estate holder Henry Lawrence Kinney donated the three-and-a-half-acre hill that would become Old Bayview Cemetery, and the soldiers were buried the following day.

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