History
Site of R. E. McConnell Property
John McConnell (1818-98) came to Crockett from Ireland in 1847 and opened a blacksmith shop at this site. Later, with his sons, he moved to another location and started a hardware business. An active civic leader, McConnell served as County Treasurer and as City Alderman.
History
Site of the Crockett Hotel
James H. Collard, a surveyor, opened a general store on this site in 1837. Four years later he sold the business to Thomas Collins (1800-1869). Members of the Collins family ran the store until 1890 when William Berry (b.1856) constructed the Pickwick Hotel. Two brothers, F.A. and J.H. Smith, bought the building in 1921. It was reopened as the Davy Crockett Hotel in 1927.
History
Site of the Jones School House
(100 yards west) On land given by John Jesse Jones (1820-1872), who with his wife Margaret Kyle (1830-1896) moved from Alabama to Texas in the 1850s. The 1860s one-room log cabin school house was used also for church and community meetings. It was furnished with teacher's platform and hand-hewn, peg-leg log benches.
History
Site of the Town of Alabama
Important shipping point before the Civil War. Here was established Trinity College, the first institution of higher education in Houston County. Its charter was granted on January 30, 1841 by the Congress of the Republic of Texas. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of Volga Community
Westward-moving pioneers settled this area after the Civil War. Attracted by good farmland, timber, and water, they established homes and called their community High Prairie. It was renamed Volga in 1897, when a post office was established in Samuel Knox's store. His son, Samuel D. Knox, served as first postmaster.
History
Site of Wheeler Springs School
The Wheeler Springs community was shaped in part by its school, which began on land donated in 1905 by French Taylor. The Houston County school board designated it Common School District No. 76 in 1906. Millie Denby and Lula (Denby) Dailey were the first teachers.
Architecture
Spence-Chamberlain House
This house was built by teacher and lawyer John Spence and his wife Adele, also a teacher, about 1870. John died in 1879, and in 1891 Adele sold the house to druggist B. Frank Chamberlain and his wife Una. Sometime prior to 1920 the Chamberlains attached a kitchen to the house and added bay windows.
History
Stage Coach Inn
Built as a home by Joseph D. Rice, Sr., who came to Texas in 1828. In 1838 it was designated as a stopping place for the stage coach from Nacogdoches to Crockett. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Stanton Cemetery
Stanton Cemetery began with the burials, just days apart, of the young daughter (Sarah A.) and infant son (William H.) of William and Nancy Stanton in 1861. The children, victims of a diphtheria epidemic, were buried on family land. The Stanton's other son, Joseph Brown, left handwritten instructions for preserving and protecting the family cemetery in 1917.
History
Strode-Pritchett Log Cabin
This log cabin was constructed on the Jeremiah Strode League (12 mi. E). It is believed to have been built in the 1850s by B.R. Wallace (1800-73), Strode's son-in-law and a Texas legislator, or by Wallace's cousin W.W. Wallace (b. 1821). Later additions covered the cabin and by 1950, when the land was sold to W.S. and Fannie Pritchett, no traces were visible.
History
The Edens-Madden Massacre
A famous tragedy of the 1830s. While able-bodied men where away fighting Indians, six or seven women, some young children, and four elderly men -- most of them relatives -- were at the home of John Edens (2.4 mi. SW of here). Indians attacked, killing several women and setting fire to the house. The men, 4-year-old Balis Madden, and a little girl escaped. Two wounded women, Mrs.
History
The Joseph R. Rice Log Cabin
Joseph Redmond Rice (1805-1866) cut timber; then his young wife, Willie Masters Rice (1809-1881), snaked the logs to a homesite 16 miles southwest of here. the cabin they built was a noted way-station on the San Antonio Road. They brought up nine children, enlarging their cabin several times. After a grandson built a frame home in 1919, the old cabin became a farm storage shed.
History
The Rev. John C. Woolam
(January 15, 1813 -- January 18, 1894) South Carolina native John C. Woolam lived in Tennessee and served in the Florida Indian Wars before coming to Texas in 1838. After being licensed to preach by the Methodist Church in 1840, he served 34 churches in East and Southeast Texas during the next 50 years.
History
The Rev. Thomas Nelms Mainer
(Feb. 24, 1877-Nov.6, 1968) Born in Lovelady, the Rev. Thomas Nelms Mainer was the son of merchant N.J. Mainer. After editing the local newspaper for several years, the Rev. Mainer attended Baptist Seminary and served as pastor for churches in this area. A leader in community activities, he was Superintendent of Lovelady Schools, 1921-36.
History
Town of Latexo
Early community called Oldham, near Bethel Church and school, was renamed Starks' Switch when International & Great Northern Railroad in 1872 laid sidetrack to serve Starks' sawmill (2 mi. W). Latexo post office opened in 1907, after the Louisiana Texas Orchard Company platted 3,000 acres of fruit land and a town here.
History
Town of Lovelady
Founded by Houston and Great Northern Railroad investors as line was built through grant of Cyrus Lovelady, near communities of Nevil's Prairie, Pennington, and Weldon. Post office opened on Nov. 8, 1972. Town soon had livery, stables, blacksmith shop, and hotels, prospering as market and shipping point. By 1876 day school and Sunday school were held in a log house.
History
Vicory Barker Tunstall
(October 21, 1876 -- February 8, 1953) Born west of Crockett. A noted musician. Houston County District Clerk, 1918-22. A barber by trade. In boyhood, studied violin. At 16, began teaching. At 20, opened Tunstall Music House. Traveled East Texas 50 years with band that included his ten children. Founded World's Championship Fiddler's Festival, 1937.
History
W. E. Mayes Property
Alabama native William Elbert "Buck" Mayes (1836-1915) came to this area in 1856. After serving in the Civil War, he returned home to Houston County and became a successful businessman with interests in banking, real estate, construction and retail sales. By April 1893, he owned the three commercial structures at this site (509-513 E. Goliad).
Architecture
W.V. McConnell Building
Crockett native William Van McConnell (1855-1919) built this victorian commercial structure soon after he purchased the site in 1891 from Maj. J.C. Wooters, a former mayor of the city. Known for his wit and his Irish stories, McConnell opened a mercantile store here which developed into a business that lasted until 1973.
History
Waneta Community and School
Settlement of the Waneta Community can be traced to 1852, when Charles W. Butler purchased land and established a farm. By the 1870s a number of families lived in the vicinity and the rural community was growing. A post office was established in 1899. Area businesses included a general store, blacksmith, and cotton gin.
History
Weches CCC Camp
Weches Camp P-58-T was established by the Federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on June 19, 1933. Manned by Company 888, the Weches camp was the first CCC camp established in Houston County. It contained barracks, a mess hall, recreation area, post office and medical infirmary.
History
Weldon Cemetery
The Thompson Brothers Lumber Company (later Champion Lumber Company) donated four acres of land at this site to the people of the Weldon Community for a cemetery in 1912. The first persons buried here that year were one-year-old Louise Driskell and her two-year-old brother, Leo, both victims of diphtheria.
History
Wheeler Springs Community
(4.4. miles west) Settlement in this area began in 1835, when Joshua J. Hall (1790-1871) established a community south of here along the Trinity River. After the Civil War Hall family slaves and other freed African Americans settled here. In 1885 the community was named for springs located on land donated by French Taylor (1842-1937) for church purposes.
History
Whitehead Cemetery
The Henry Whitehead family came to Texas from Mississippi during the 1850s and settled in Houston County about 1862. A confederate veteran, Henry Whitehead (1821-1877) established this family cemetery on his land with the burial of first wife, Mary Ann "Polly" (Priest), in 1870. Only one of their seven children, Aaron, is buried here.
History
William Calvert Hallmark
William Calvert Hallmark, A Veteran of San Jacinto. Born in Tennessee, May 20, 1804. Died January 26, 1880.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
