Big Foot Wallace's Marker Is in Bigfoot, but His Grave Is in Austin

Big Foot Wallace is remembered in two Texas places. His 1936 granite marker stands at roads 472 and 462 in Bigfoot, across from the local museum. His grave is at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

The split begins in Frio County. The State Cemetery says Wallace spent his later years near the small village of Bigfoot. He sat in the shade of his shanty and retold stories from a life that included work as a soldier, Texas Ranger, and mail rider. The same biography is candid about his habit of stretching a tale.

Wallace died on January 7, 1899. Soon afterward, the Legislature paid to move his remains to the State Cemetery, where he was reinterred on February 25.

Austin has the grave, but Bigfoot keeps the local connection. The marker stands in the village near which Wallace spent his last years, turning an unusual place name into a reminder of a man the state remembers as both a ranger and a teller of frontier stories.