Freedom Colonies

June 25, 2023

I have had a great deal of difficulty finding information on the places we have visited in the last few adventures. Though I would love to do thorough research in libraries and at local historical commissions, etc., I simply do not have the time and energy. The Web and our small personal library of books are my primary resources.

I knew that there had to be a bigger story behind all of these little communities we have been exploring lately, but despite my best efforts to find information on the Web, I was coming up with virtually nothing.

That is, until shortly after this adventure, when I happened to hit on the right combination of search criteria in Google. That led to an interesting article in Texas Highways entitled, Roads to Freedom. Writer LaDawn Fletcher tells an all-too-brief, but fascinating tale about the Freedom Colonies of Houston County.

Freedom Colonies were established by freed slaves in the 1860s, sometimes from land deeded from previous plantation owners. The land was not necessarily ideal–it was typically located in the flood plains of nearby rivers–but it was certainly a fertile region for planting and establishing stable, self-contained communities. Being self-reliant was important for Blacks during the days of Jim Crow laws in the states of the former Confederate States of America. And these little communities certainly seemed to have done well considering the harsh and hostile conditions.

Like many rural communities in Texas, people began moving away to the Big Cities during and after World War II to look for better opportunities. And, the end of segregation in the 1960s made it possible for more Blacks to move from the Freedom Colonies to enjoy the benefits of integration. (A related consequence was the consolidation of school districts around the state, which was the fate of the Fodice Community School that we visited during our Machete Man Adventure.) As a result of this population dispersal, the history of these places and people is in danger of becoming forgotten.

I highly encourage you to read Ms. Fletcher’s article, and to also visit the Texas Freedom Colonies Project for more information.

So, without further ado, let’s get into today’s adventure.

We were on an expedition to see an interesting church that we had located on Google Maps.

Our route took us down County Road 2215 in northwestern Houston County. CR 2215 starts at Old Navaho Road near Houston County Lake.

Like many East Texas dirt roads, this route runs through forest and pastures, and crosses several pretty creeks.

Route: Freedom Colonies

Not long into our journey, we came to Hall Cemetery. Normally, we like to get out and explore cemeteries, but with the heat index hovering around 115F we kept our out-of-vehicle trips short. We were content with a simple photo of the historical marker this time.

Continuing past the cemetery, we came to this scenic overlook of the Little Elkhart Creek valley:

And then, we crossed the creek itself. Little Elkhart Creek is the source of Houston County Lake, located upstream from this location.

The wildflowers are still in bloom and in abundance. A little past the creek we came across one of many patches of wild bergamot. This plant’s leaves are said to have a minty flavor and are brewed as a tea. Personally, I’m not brave enough to brew anything out of some wild plant, but if you’ve ever drank this stuff, then I’m curious to know what you think.

CR 2215 ends at CR 2210. A historical marker sits across from the junction of these two roads, which is near the location of the Reynard Community. As explained in the marker text, it was named for farmer Thomas Jefferson Fox (“reynard” is French for “fox”).

If one turns to the right, CR 2210 soon becomes a paved road and leads, somewhat, back to civilization. So, naturally, we turned left to head deeper into the rural countryside.

Before long, we came across a huge patch of black-eyed Susans along the ditch on one side of the road. There were thousands of flowers, with lots of bees, butterflies, and other insects enjoying the bounty.

Along the edge of the patch were these blooming partridge pea plants, which is a type of sensitive plant as indicated by the fern-like leaves. I’d never seen one of these, before.

Where there is a Little Elkhart Creek, there must be a Big Elkhart Creek, right? Well, there certainly was today. This is a downstream view of the creek:

CR 2210 twists and turns through woods and pastures into what I call the “back portion” of the road. It is apparent that fewer people travel this section, as it is probably easier to enter and exit the area from the opposite ends of the road. The road surface got a little rougher here. A high-clearance vehicle is probably a must. But, if you make it down this way, it offers some interesting scenery.

At first glance, I thought the tree limbs stretching across the entire width of the road in the image below looked pretty cool–like lightning bolts. But I soon realized that they were dead. This is a potentially hazardous situation!

Further examination revealed that the entire tree was dead.

Near the dead tree, I found this little northern sea oats plant.

Continuing past the dead tree, we came upon another pasture on one side of the road. It was packed full of yellow flowers as far as the eye could see. There were lots of butterflies here, too. If you look carefully, on the far left a little above the fence, you can see one that photobombed the scene.

A little further along, the trees gave way to pastures on both sides. This handsome critter was hunting in a pool on the other side of the fence.

And where there are cattle, there must be a:

CR 2210 made yet another turn and headed straight on for some distance. There were large stones in the crown of the road–another reason a high clearance vehicle is a good idea for a drive like this.

Finally, we arrived at our primary objective:

Cedar Branch Missionary Baptist Church was established in 1862 as a brush arbor meeting place. Not long after, the congregation decided that they needed a more permanent place to meet. In 1864, a church building was constructed. This was replaced in 1925 by the present structure. A historical marker in front of the building gives a brief history of the community and church.

What a magnificent building!

The cornerstone reads:

CEDAR BRANCH
BAPTIST CHURCH
BRUSH ARBOR EST. 1862
CHURCH BUILT 1864
PASTOR CHARLES LEONARD
PRESENT CHURCH
BUILT 1924-1925
PRESENT PASTOR E.M. DEWS
DEACONS
J.H. BURNS
LARRY LEONARD
HERMAN TRYON
HUBERT E. BURNS
9-12-96

The Cedar Branch Community was established near Cedar Branch Creek. A schoolhouse was built across the road from the church, with funding provided, in part, by the Julius Rosenwald Fund. A historical marker marks the location of the school.

The New Cedar Branch Cemetery is located next to the old school site. We used up our Texas Heat Tolerance walking around the church, so we didn’t visit the cemetery.

And, continuing past the church, CR 2210 crosses Cedar Branch.

From this point forward, CR 2210 became tamer, and we started to see a few more houses here and there. Soon, the name changed to FM 227 and a little past that point, we returned to pavement.

Our next stop was the Greater New Hope Baptist Church.

Built in 1943, it has apparently been given a bit of a facelift recently.

Sadly, I was unable to find any details on the history of this building.

Continuing down FM 227, we passed the H. W. L. Shepherd Family Cemetery…

…and came upon this beautiful pasture:

Then, we came to a fork in the road. But which way to take? Continue to the left on the pavement, or venture down an unexplored dirt road?

As if there really was any question, of course we took the dirt road! CR 2225 is very narrow, but drivable. It leads to the Dailey Community Cemetery.

Daly’s, Texas was a farming community established around 1850. It was named for an early settler named Thomas R. Dailey. The spelling of the community’s name varies: Daly’s, Daly, and Dailey. It’s the same old story for such small communities: after World War II, it dispersed. All that is left in the area are a few homes and the old cemetery.

The Dailey Community Cemetery is located about half a mile from FM 227. I got out to take a picture of the historical marker and the gravestones across the fence but didn’t do any exploring. (You know, the heat.)

CR 2225 got a little rougher past the cemetery. A tree, visible in the bend of the road in the image below, had fallen during a recent storm. It blocked part of the road, but there was enough room to navigate around it.

Continuing past the tree and around the bend, we came upon this spectacular view across a pasture. CR 2225 makes a sharp turn to the left near here, and then runs along the tree line that is visible in the distance.

Past the aforementioned bend, the road runs through a cut, and then comes to an end on paved County Road 2544. There was an abundance of wildflowers around this intersection. I wish now that we had taken some pictures.

We turned right onto CR 2544, and then left onto CR 2230, which runs through a rural residential area. That road ended on FM 229, aka, Old Navaho Road. Turning right onto Old Navaho Road, we drove down to Houston County Lake.

There is a public boat ramp and parking lot on the earthen dam of the lake, which affords a nice view of the water, trees, homes, and docks around it. Several boats were on the lake, and someone was fishing near the dam.

After watching a boat pull a skier (OK, we were waiting for them to get out of the shot), we took a picture, and then headed back into the comfy, cold air conditioning of the truck. Have I mentioned how hot it was today?

And thus ended the main part of our adventure.

We continued back to Crockett along Old Navaho Road and headed home. But, while passing through Lovelady on TX-19, we got to watch a Union Pacific train pass by:

Houston County is a beautiful place with a lot of interesting things to see. We may do some more exploration in the near future, but I think I would like to branch out into some of the other surrounding counties. But who knows? We sometimes get into a car and drive away without a plan, just to see what we can see.