November 11, 2025
I try to come up with clever titles for these blog posts. It’s partly for my own entertainment, but it also helps me group and categorize the places we’ve visited. A title usually comes to mind as we drive, but sometimes I have to reflect on the trip after the fact.
The title for this post came up shortly before I started writing. The common thread of many places we visited was that they were either completely abandoned or in general disuse–even the roads. It’s not that they have been forgotten, necessarily, but time and shifts in life have made these places less relevant to people’s daily lives.
Route: Abandoned Places – South Houston County
This trip is a continuation of the exploration of some roads in southern Houston County that I found while researching locations to go rock hunting. I don’t know how these roads escaped my attention until now. Houston County is a treasure trove of interesting, out-of-the-way places.
Our journey began on FM 1309, a few miles east of Lovelady, Texas along FM 1280. FM 1309 is a paved road and is part of a series of roads named “Crockett Road.” Several Freedom Colonies once existed in this area. The colonies’ schools functioned as the centers of these communities.
Center Grove School was such a place, serving African American students for nearly 40 years. It was formed as a consolidation between the Center Hill and Smith Grove community schools. Later, it further consolidated with other area schools before joining with Lovelady ISD.
Principal W. C. Wiliams, a native of Smith Grove, was a prominent figure in the school’s development. Under his guidance, the school built a gymnasium and established a football team and band. Many students went on to attend college. In 1960, Lovelady ISD closed its all-black school and sent its students to Center Grove–a testament to the success of the school. The school was closed in 1969 when the district integrated. (Source: Sitton, T. & Conrad, J. H., Freedom Colonies – Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow, pp. 138-139, 179).
The remains of the school are on private property, but there is plenty of room along the road to pull over and read the historical marker.
We continued north on FM 1309, passing the junction with Fodice Road, until the pavement ended. Here, the road becomes County Road 4090.
CR 4090 was a bit rough. I recommend a vehicle with high ground clearance. Two-wheel drive is probably fine, but there are areas along this route where the road may be covered in dry sand.
Our next stop was the Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church.
The church is presently closed. This probably is not surprising considering its remote location–there are very few people living in this area. We hope, though, that someone will maintain the structure and put it to good use.
The building below is located next to the church. We think it may have been a parsonage and/or a fellowship hall at one time. I do not believe that it was a former church building (unless used temporarily) because it does not have a double door on the front, and the timeline indicated on the plaque above does not suggest that another structure exists.
We did not get close to the building. As indicated in the photos, there was a lot of brush grown up around it and the structure does not look safe. Furthermore, we are always cautious against trespassing. I generally feel uneasy walking around these places without asking permission. Churches are one thing, since they are sort of a public area, but I don’t like to wander far. Kristi, however, felt like we were being watched the entire time. Upon reviewing the photos in the truck a few minutes later, we spotted this reflection in one of the windows:
Obviously, it’s just the sunlight reflecting off a tree, right? Maybe our uneasy feelings were just perfectly normal paranoia.
After taking a short break, we continued our drive up CR 4090.
The drive was very pretty. CR 4090 ends at CR 4025. I backed up a bit onto CR 4025 and took the picture below of where we had just been. Doesn’t that look like an inviting road to explore?
Heading west a short distance, we came upon this apparently vacant house. I say apparently because for such a dilapidated structure, someone has taken care to keep the porch, yard, and fenceline nice and tidy. A dog, who was tied up in the carport, was barking at us. This time, we both felt like we were being watched.
A sign hangs from the porch. I can’t make out everything written on it, but it does spell “Watson” very clearly. Watson is a name that appears on the Pleasant Grove Methodist Church plaque several times, so I assume that this was (is) the house of a very prominent member of the church. Review of the appraisal district records for this property shows a different name on the title and a nearby house that I presume is the primary residence of the owner.
This area feels very remote. I couldn’t shake the feeling that some parts of these roads are seldom visited. Maybe once upon a time there was more activity, back when Center Hill and Smith Grove were active communities. But now the roads seem to be struggling to avoid being reabsorbed into the woods.
We crossed over Gail Creek about one third of the way into our drive on CR 4025. We had previously crossed it further downstream on FM 1280. Gail Creek is one of the longer creeks in the area. It starts near Crockett and then merges with White Rock Creek somewhere south of FM 1280. It is named for Richard Whitehead Gayle of South Carolina, who moved to Texas in 1848 and lived on a farm along the creek from 1854 until his death in 1866.
Going back to how remote this area feels, it’s not as if it is completely cut off from civilization–there are houses here and there–but it is obviously not well traveled. Shortly after we left the pavement on FM 1309, we did not see another vehicle until near the end of CR 4025. There simply is no reason for anyone to go down this road unless they live here–it’s not a shortcut to anywhere, and there are no attractions along this route.
CR 4025 ends at Rockland Cemetery Road (CR 4020), which we explored in our previous adventure.
Turning north, we backtracked our previous route on CR 4020 for a way until we reached Center Hill Cemetery Road. We then followed that road west until it ended on TX-19.
You may have noticed that we have not been posting much recently. There are several reasons for this, but it’s mainly work and being tired (because of work). Also, I recently had surgery on my ankle and so am “laid up” for a couple of months while I heal. We’re still getting out and revisiting some of our favorite routes but wanted to get one more trip to an unexplored place before my surgery. This was it. And, sadly, this may be the last new route that we explore until next year.
But we still have a list of new places that we want to visit. Houston County has a lot more to offer, and eventually we’ll make our way further east to explore some of the roads around Lufkin and Nacogdoches. Plus, I hope to make another trip to the Lindsay Ranch this coming spring.
I also have more material for some additional posts that don’t focus on any particular route. So, don’t give up on us. We’re still having adventures!