January 7, 2023
My site was recently hacked, and my account was temporarily taken offline by the host until some issues could be resolved. Everything is back online now, and security has been enhanced.
The forecast originally showed rain all day, but by morning that had been pushed back until late evening, so Kristi and I decided it would be a good idea to get out and enjoy one more drive before we had to go back to work next week.
There are a lot of roads in Grimes County that we want to explore. But before an adventure begins the question always arises, “Which roads do we choose?” One never knows what to expect on these little expeditions. Sometimes the roads are fantastic. Other times they are nice, but nothing noteworthy. We rarely come across one that is disappointing, so closing one’s eyes and randomly pointing at a spot on a map is about as good as any carefully planned trip.
I quickly put together a path with a vague goal of ending up in Anderson for lunch. This drive fell into the “random wanderings” category.
Normally, I would embed a map showing the route we took. (Those of you who read these posts via email probably don’t see them.) WordPress is refusing to update the post with the embedded map, probably as a side effect of the new security measures. So instead, here is a link:
Route: Connecting the Dots in Grimes County
Our trip started on County Road 233 off TX-30 just outside of Shiro (pronounced “shy-roh”). This road was mostly in the “not noteworthy” ranking. Maybe during the spring or summer it would be prettier. Despite the ho-hum appearance of the surrounding landscape, however, the little creek pictured below sparked my imagination. Where did it lead? My first thought was that it eventually emptied into the nearby Navasota River.
It turned out that its story was a little more involved. While researching the area history for this post, I discovered that this little creek connects to some of our past adventures and to some important Texas history.
Turning right on County Road 232, we passed by the Lazy J Ranch and this pretty scene:
CR 232 crosses Lake Creek near FM 1486, south of Shiro. Lake Creek, it turns out, is the destination of the little tributary on CR 233, above.
Lake Creek begins just north of Shiro, near where we started our Google Maps Mayhem adventure on CR 229. Its confluence is on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in Montgomery County near The Woodlands. The land between Lake Creek and the San Jacinto River was part of Stephen F. Austin‘s Second Colony and came to be known as the Lake Creek Settlement. The settlement sat at the intersection of several important roads in the area, including the Coushatta Trace. “Traces” were narrow paths–typically no more than walking trails that were barely wide enough for horses–but often served vital roles in the settlement of Texas.
The Coushatta Trace was established by the Coushatta Indians. It connected their village on the Sabine River with the Atascocito Road, originally a Spanish military highway, in present-day Colorado County. The Coushatta Trace comes back into our journey a little later…
A little past Lake Creek, CR 232 crosses the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, which parallels FM 1486. (This is the same railroad that we documented in Google Maps Mayhem.) Turning left, we headed to the junction with FM 149, turned right, and then proceeded to County Road 217.
CR 217 was a pretty little drive. Sadly, there was a vehicle behind us most of the time, and there were no easy places to pull over to let them pass; so, we didn’t stop until we nearly reached its end at FM 2562. We did get a photo of this picturesque pasture, though:
Lunch was on both of our minds by this time, so we began to make our way to Anderson via FM 2562 to TX-30, and then TX-90 from Roans Prairie. But as we got to TX-30 I remembered enjoying our earlier drive down County Road 219 when we were exploring the route of the Madisonville Branch. So, we headed to Anderson via CR 219, instead.
New houses are being built along the northern end of CR 219. This area is mostly pasture, but a little past the houses the surroundings become more wooded. It was a short distance into the woods that we saw this unusual feature on the east side of the road, across the ditch:
There was water at the bottom. What created it? A fallen tree? An overly ambitious gopher? A cult of shovel worshippers?
The area around CR 219 is very pretty, in our opinion, and has some unusual landforms. The road passes through cuts in the low hills, and outcroppings of limestone are visible in several places.
Just past the outcroppings above is a small cliff, located behind the trees along the east side of the road. The road rises up to meet the top of the cliff, and at this location is the Oakland Cemetery.
According to the historical marker on the gate, Oakland Cemetery was founded in 1867 in connection with the Oakland Baptist Church, which we explored in the Madisonville Branch adventure. The church building was moved to Roans Prairie in 1913.
Something that caught my attention in the historical marker was the claim that this area was along the Coushatta Trace. However, my understanding of the route of the trace was that it ran several miles south of Anderson, probably only clipping the southeast corner of Grimes County as it ran from present-day Montgomery toward Bellville.
After a bit of research, I found that there was an Upper Coushatta Trace that was used as an alternate route during wet weather to avoid the San Jacinto River basin. Having grown up within walking distance of the West Fork of the San Jacinto in Montgomery County, I can attest to the fact that this area is prone to flooding and miserable, muddy conditions after heavy rains.
So, it appears that the Upper Coushatta Trace was used as the path for the stagecoach route that used to run from Austin, through Anderson and near the Oakland Cemetery, and then to points beyond. Stagecoach routes were set up to service mail contracts, and an examination of a map in the Portal to Texas History archive shows a mail route running through the area.
Is CR 219 a remnant of the old mail/stagecoach route? Was it established along the original path of the Upper Coushatta Trace? If not, these old roads were certainly nearby.
Feeling tired and hungry, we decided to skip exploring the cemetery and go find food. So, we continued on our way along CR 219 toward Anderson.
What is it about creeks and dumping trash? Why do people think it’s a good idea to drop tires, large appliances, and even household garbage directly into a creek? Why not pay a couple of bucks and take it to a landfill? It sickens us to see an otherwise beautiful scene spoiled by someone’s garbage. Next to the little creek above, was this “wonderful” scene of a discarded tire and an old, metal garbage can. Yes, they just threw out the entire garbage can.
But litter wasn’t going to stop mine and Kristi’s appetites. CR 219 ended at TX-90. Turn left, we head to Anderson and food sources unknown. Turn right, and we head toward Madisonville and…Texas Legends Steakhouse! The latter won out, so we ended our adventure with a tasty, albeit late, lunch at our favorite restaurant.
While we were exploring, neither of us had any idea how we were “connecting the dots” with our previous adventures and the history of the Coushatta Trace. Few roads go places without a purpose, and many roads we know today were in place long ago. There is a lot of history out there among the backroads–both dirt and paved. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface…