The Cementerio del Barrio de los Lipanes in Presidio, Texas is a sacred site to the Lipan Apache Tribe. It became the final resting place of Lipan who settled in the immediate vicinity beginning in the 1790s, when the Spanish colonial government named the area a peace settlement.
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas recently partnered with the Big Bend Conservation Alliance to protect this site with a structure, which would offer protection from residential encroachment while serving three purposes—to prevent erosion of the burial mound, limit trespassing, and teach about the area’s Indigenous history.
Excerpts from Predesign Report
Short Video
Photographs of Built Memorial
El Cementerio del Barrio de los Lipanes
w/ MASS Design Group
Presidio, TX
2022 - 2024
Predesign | DD | CA
Project Role: Designer | Graphic Designer | Fabrication Coordination
Press:
https://www.mellon.org/grant-story/protecting-pasts-and-futures-in-west-texas
Texas Monthly, “A Forgotten Burial Site in Presidio Tells the Story of a Disappearing Border History” by Sterry Butcher. July 2021
Marfa Public Radio, “Presidio Works To Preserve a Lipan Apache Cemetery And Tell Its Story” by Annie Rosenthal. August 13, 2021
Big Bend Sentinel, “County halts transferring ownership of Lipan Apache cemetery to historical commission” by Sachi McClendon. September 8, 2021
Big Bend Sentinel, “Push for historical marker at Lipan Apache Cemetery challenges who tells region’s history” by Sachi McClendon. September 22, 2021
Marfa Public Radio, “Presidio County approves plan for handing over historic cemetery to Lipan Apache Tribe” by Travis Bubenik. October 13, 2021
Big Bend Sentinel, “Presidio County moves to transfer ownership of cemetery to Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas” by Sam Karas. October 20, 2021.
Big Bend Sentinel, “Presidio County makes history by transferring ownership of cemetery to the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas” by Sam Karas. November 3, 2021.
CNN, "An Indigenous tribe in Texas is getting its sacred burial ground back” by Harmeet Kaur. November 5, 2021.
Texas Standard, “City of Presidio returns cemetery land to Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas” by Glorie Martinez. November 23, 2021.
Marfa Public Radio, “Lipan Apache tribal members gather in Presidio to celebrate historic land transfer” by Annie Rosenthal. November 30, 2021.
Big Bend Sentinel, “Celebration, reunion as Lipan Apache tribal council travels to Presidio from McAllen for special ceremony” by Sam Karas. December 1, 2021.
Big Bend Sentinel, “3-D modeling, ground penetrating radar to inform improvements at Lipan Cemetery” by Sam Karas. January 13, 2022.
Big Bend Sentinel, “Portraits from the Big Bend: Nakaya Flotte, advocate and student of traditional Lipan Apache culture” by Mary Cantrell. June 15, 2022
Marfa Public Radio, ““A sacred space”: Architects and tribal community share a plan to protect Presidio’s Lipan Apache cemetery” by Annie Rosenthal. October 20, 2022.
Marfa Public Radio, ““Un espacio digno”: Los arquitectos y la comunidad tribal comparten su plan para proteger el cementerio Lipan Apache de Presidio” by Annie Rosenthal. October 20, 2022.
Big Bend Sentinel, “City of Presidio approves architectural designs for Lipan Apache Cemetery” by Sam Karas. October 20, 2022.
Marfa Public Radio, “In Presidio, the effort to preserve an Indigenous cemetery is finally complete” by Annie Rosenthal. April 19, 2024.