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Columns | Bob Bowman's East Texas

San Jacinto County
A Historic County

by Bob Bowman

May 1, 2011
Bob Bowman

One of my favorite rural counties in East Texas, San Jacinto County, celebrated its 140th anniversary this year.

Named for the 1836 battle which ended the Texas revolution against Mexico, the county lies south of Livingston and is sprinkled with some of the most interesting small towns in East Texas.

Coldspring, the county seat, is actually two towns. The town’s first site, often called “Old Town,” was built in an area called “the gullies,” where heavy rains was always washing away buildings and other improvements.


San Jacinto County Courthouse, Coldspring, Texas 1939 old photo
1939 Photo courtesy TxDoT
San Jacinto County Courthouse in Coldspring

The county’s first jail still stands in the gullies and housed inmates until the early 1980s when a new jail was built on a hill. The new Coldspring was also built atop the hill with a new courthouse in 1918.

On Highway 190 is Oakhurst, which was once a prosperous sawmill town named for Oakhurst, Oklahoma, home of of several lumber men who moved to Texas.

Three miles north of Oakhurst is Raven Hill, the one-time home of Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto. The hill got its name from an Indian name for Houston. Further up Highway 190 from Oakhurst is Point Blank, which was originally named Point Blanc by a Frenchwoman who moved here from Alabama. The town was also called Point White and White Point.

About a mile south of Point Blank is Robinson Cemetery, where a large monument marks the grave of Governor George Tyler Wood, who served from 1849 to 1851. Wood’s grave was unmarked for more than a half-century until the monument was built.

At Coldspring, historical markers dot the community. Coldspring United Methodist Church is believed to be the oldest Methodist church in continuous use in Texas. Another church, Evergreen United Methodist, was organized in 1862, several years before the county was formed.

The Trapp-McClanahan house, built around 1880, is privately owned and Council Hill, also located on private property, was the home of Vernal B. Lea, brother of Mrs. Sam Houston.

Several old cemeteries dot the county, including Laurel Hill, where General James Davis is buried.

Old Waverly, an early center of culture, is located on Highway 150 about 14 miles west of Coldspring.

The town of Shepherd, located on U.S. 59, originated near Old Drew’s Landing on the Trinity River, and the Coushatta Indians inhabited an area on Coley Creek from 1835 to 1900.


Bob Bowman's East Texas May 1, 2011 Column.
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers




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