Honey Grove History

A BRIEF HISTORY OF

HONEY GROVE, TEXAS

In 1836, as David Crockett was traveling to join the Texas Army at San Antonio, he camped in a grove just west of the present town square, on the bank of Honey Grove Creek. In letters he wrote to Tennessee, he told of the ideal place where he had camped, the "honey grove." It was so named due to the abundance of honey in the hollow trees. In 1842, the first settler, Samuel Erwin, arrived to make the "honey grove" his home. Erwin was a friend of Crockett. In fact, Crockett performed the marriage ceremony for Erwin and his wife.

B. S. Walcott came to Honey Grove in 1848, laid off the town and sold building lots, and progress really began to speed up in the tiny town. Honey Grove was incorporated in 1873. The City Hall is the oldest governmental building in Fannin County, and is still in use. The quaint brick streets around the town square add to the small town charm. Many of the old buildings still stand and house businesses, as well as the public library.

Many of the buildings on the town square are built of stone cut from the Floyd Quarry, which is located about three miles south of town. The quarry was abandoned about 1905.

Honey Grove is graced with an abundance of lovely old homes and churches. There are many architectural styles represented in the houses. Several of them boast of beautiful woodwork, stained glass windows and third floor ballrooms.

The lovely St. Mark's Episcopal Church is now owned by a local foundation is available for small weddings. Built in 1883, the church carried a Texas State Historical Marker. Built in frontier gothic style, the interior is of heart pine, and the building has been totally restored.

Honey Grove has ties to some rather well known names. The daughter of Samuel Erwin moved to California in 1849 and her daughter married the famous naturalist, John Muir. Their home is a National Historic Site in California. Muir is known as the "father of our National parks" and was the founder of the Sierra Club.

Erwin Evans Smith, born in Honey Grove in 1886, was a famous photographer who documented the vanishing way of cowboy life on the range in the early 1900's. His photos are in the Library of Congress and there is a book on his life and works. An exhibit of some of his photographs is showing until May at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.

A famous blues musician, Sammy Price, was also born in Honey Grove in 1908. He was known as a blues man of exceptional ability. He undoubtedly never forgot Honey Grove, as the name of one of the songs he wrote is titled "Honey Grove Blues."

The best seller novel, A Woman of Independent Means, by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, although fictional, is based on a true story of the Walcott family of Honey Grove. Much of the novel is set in Honey Grove.

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Site designed by Mary A. Thurman, Hall-Voyer Foundation. For comments about site, e-mail mayfield@honeygrove.org. For information about library, e-mail hallv@1starnet.com. Please notify if broken links found. Site created March, 2000. Reviewed February, 2008.