Artesian springs helped draw settlers to eastern Erath County and the community of Bluff Springs, later Bluff Dale. In 1872, Rev. James Wesley and Martha (Middleton) White donated seven acres of land for a church, school, and community burial ground here. Many early graves in Wesley Chapel Cemetery are unmarked. The Lewis family plot records several deaths in a short time span, likely reflecting illness from harsh frontier conditions. Wesley Chapel Methodist Church remained active until the 1920s. A cemetery association maintains the graveyard, and families meet each April for a work day. Today, the cemetery overlooking north Paluxy Creek is the last remnant of the historic Wesley Chapel community.