March 10, 2024
After our unexpected discovery of the little Methodist church on Old Huntsville Road south of Crockett, Texas, we decided to go back and explore the two county roads that run on either side of the church.
I had initially intended to do something a little different on this adventure and post a video of the drive. But after reviewing the dashcam footage I determined that the video quality wasn’t that great. We may invest in a new dashcam in the near future, though, and try again.
We started on County Road 3401, which starts at Old Huntsville Road (CR 3375) on the south side of the church. CR 3401 is narrower than a typical county road in the area and is not well maintained. But any vehicle with decent ground clearance can probably handle it if one is careful.
This road is not traveled often, but we spoke to some nice people who were out driving the opposite direction in an ATV. They were members of the Faltesek family, whose ancestors moved from Tennessee and settled the area around 1853. Much of the land near the church is still owned by the family.
CR 3401 ends at FM 231. A vacant lot is located at the intersection. On the lot is a small group of trees covered in wisteria vines, which were starting to bloom. Wisteria are common ornamental flowers, so we reasoned that a house must have once stood on the lot. A review of the historical aerial images on Google Earth Pro revealed a structure that appears to be a house at this location until at least the mid-1990s.
Turning onto FM 231, we headed north and then turned left onto Shiloh Road/County Road 3395. This is the road that meets Old Huntsville Road on the north side of the church.
Tantabogue Creek starts a little north of Shiloh Road, heads south, and then turns a little east where it is crossed by TX-19. The creek is named for the Tantabogue Indians, a Caddoan tribe (link to a PDF document), who once lived in the area.
Although not heavily populated, Shiloh Road has more houses and properties along it than CR 3401. It is also better maintained.
We came upon an interesting tree tunnel where the limbs of several large oak trees resembled lightning bolts in the clouds.
This unusual tree tunnel was located a little further on:
We reached the church at the end of Shiloh Road and then turned right onto Old Huntsville Road. A short distance from there we turned left onto County Road 3385, also called Shiloh Creek Road.
A lot of Shiloh Creek Road passes through woods, but there are also several houses and pastures.
Georgia Camp Baptist Church is located near the end of Shiloh Creek Road. The congregation was formed before 1880 by a group of settlers from Georgia who had camped nearby. I assume that the main church building was constructed in 1886, based on the information from the historical marker.
Creek Cemetery is located a short distance from the church. We didn’t explore the cemetery grounds, but the historical marker makes it sound interesting. We may come back to find out more about some of the people buried there.
And as if cemeteries aren’t creepy enough, there was a giant hand in the clouds above it!
Shiloh Creek Road crosses FM 1280 at the community of Creek. I wanted to continue past FM 1280, but based on the aerial views it appears that Shiloh Creek Road dead-ends onto private property. So, we turned onto FM 1280 and headed home.
Overall, it was a pretty drive. Kristi and I had some good conversations and enjoyed each other’s company, which is always the best part of our adventures.
There is so much to see and enjoy in this area. So, if you’re ever out exploring along Old Huntsville Road, take some extra time to drive the loop around the Little Church in the Wildwood!
The left door on the Baptist church would have been for the men and the right door for women.
I didn’t think about that but given the age of the building that makes sense.