| Books
featuring Weeping Mary Texas |
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| | County
road behind Weeping Mary leading out to Highway 21
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
Few town names in East Texas attract
as much curiosity as Weeping Mary, a 140-year-old Black community hidden away
in the deep woods of western Cherokee County.
Located on County Road
2907, off Texas Highway 21, five miles west of Alto,
Weeping Mary was first settled after the Civil War by freed slaves from neighboring
plantations.....
Weeping Mary is also within walking distance of El
Camino Real, also known as the King’s Highway and the Old Spanish Trail. In
East Texas, the highway (now Texas Highway 21) runs from the Sabine River through
Milam, San
Augustine, Nacogdoches, and Alto
before reaching the Neches
River and continuing westward to Crockett
and, eventually, San Antonio.....
more
Weeping
Mary Area Hotels - Book Here & Save
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| | Weeping
Mary sign on Hwy 21
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
Weeping
MaryText
and Photos by Andrew Hardaway
Weeping Mary is a small, nearly all-Black
community, just off Highway 21 in Cherokee County behind the Caddoan
Indian Mounds Historic Site. Heading north on Texas 21 toward Alto,
after a few miles take a left by the junkyard (a good place to browse for offbeat
items and antiques) and the Thomas Chapel Church. The population is a mere 29
people scattered about four or five county roads off of CR-2907, aka Weeping Mary
Road.
It is said that the community, which was never incorporated, was
formed after the Civil War by freed slaves and named after the weeping of Mary
Magdelene at the tomb of Jesus. However, local lore has it that it was named after
a matriarch who formed a pact with the area's freed slaves not to sell their lands
to white settlers. But when one man sold his plot of land to whites, the matriarch
is said to have spent her life weeping for the loss of her community. Another
legend has it that gold is buried thoroughout the community, but according to
Weeping Mary resident J.L. Skinner - it is simply that: a legend. A local school
opened in 1896, but closed sometime after WWII.
|
| | The
Weeping Mary Baptist Church (new church being built to the left of the current
church.
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
| The church
that was built in Weeping Mary was moved to its current location, which unfortunately
is prone to flooding. Resident J.L. Skinner says that the congregation sometimes
boats to the front entrance of the church when nearby Bowles Creek floods. The
community has many multi-generational families, including the Skinner, Green,
and Peyton families, to name a few. |
| | Rusted
sign above the church door
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
| | Weeping
Mary Baptist Church schedule sign
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
| | St.
James Chapel
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
The
town has had its fair share of publicity with Photographer Rufus Lovett's There's
Something About Weeping Mary feature in Texas Monthly in 1998, a children's
murder mystery novel written by Merry Hasell Frels, entitled Simmering Secrets
of Weeping Mary, and my own play and independant film entitled The Judgment
of Weeping Mary which will be submitted at New York's Tribeca Film Festival
in the summer of 2009.
The community does not have a store, museum, or even its own cemetery. Weeping
Mary's dead are buried in the Thomas Chapel Cemetery off Highway 21 North.
The community has a playground with a single swing set (which was present at the
time of my first visit in July 2004 but missing in October 2005), a single park
bench and a trash can. A second church is under construction right next to the
old one. Even with their small population the community still supports a gospel
choir. |
| | "The
old dilapidated house is thought to be the old home of community elder Mrs. Moonie
Green or possibly the old abandoned schoolhouse. Mrs. Green was not available
to confirm this on my October 2005 visit."
Photo courtesy Andrew Hardaway |
© Andrew Hardaway,
Director/Writer/Actor, NYC (formerly of San Antonio)
Editor's Note: Former
San Antonian Andrew Hardaway, who now resides in New York City has written a play
and Independent Film on the "East Texas Gem" of Weeping Mary, Texas. The film,
entitled The Judgment of Weeping Mary will be entered in the prestigious Tribeca
Film Festival in the summer of 2009. Mr. Hardaway's information on the community
appears here in lieu of our normal History in a Pecan Shell.
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