Cherokee County (Master)

Cherokee County Historical Markers

NUMBER OF MARKERS IN COUNTY-187

Have - 116 Need - 61

Cherokee County is named for the earlier inhabitants of the area. The county seat is Rusk. We have really only travelled the very outskirts in Cherokee County, mostly around Alto. We have another trip coming up in which we hope to tackle more. When I looked at the map with all of the markers still to capture I feel a little overwhelmed. Jacksonville is a town in Cherokee County and while town's can be challenging due to traffic, parking ect we can generally we can knock out a moderate sized town in an hour or two and bag 10, 20 or more, which is a great time to number ratio. Many of Cherokee County's other markers are spread throughout the county on many small country roads. This will take time, not a little patience and hopefully good weather (which has not been our history in east Texas) so we can safely travel all the dirt roads I see in our near future.
I have called on Cherokee County Historic Commission to help confirm some of the markers I have trouble finding while researching this is so we don't spend to much time looking for something that is no longer there.

26th June, 2018 - We have been to Cherokee County twice now. The last trip being in October 2017, we really had plans to try and get a few more of the markers in this county but Steve always seems to plan big and recalculates as the trip evolves. In East Texas there are a lot of markers on country roads with confusing directions so it can take a lot more time than it looks like it should when planning. We stayed in Jacksonville and hoped to also tackle the town of Rusk but ran out of time. Jacksonville is know for its tomatoes and there are these are concrete tomatoes all over town and an annual tomato fest. We ate at Stacey's Barbecue but while the plates were huge in my opinion to the ribs did not have a lot of flavor.
I was sorry we didn't get to Sylvia Mae's which is said to serve awesome soul food. We also ate at Legends Old Time Burger Cafe and I we both thought the burgers were okay but I tried the beans are offered as a complimentary extra and they were some of the best if not the best I have tasted.

As far as markers go I found something a little unusual here, as seen below, I have yet to see this anywhere else. Several of the markers had little painted rocks on the base. This is part of the kindness program and are left around town to make someones day, they certainly made me smile.

I have reviewed what is left for the next trip and 61 markers is still at least one third of the county. Of that 61 I have 18 I can't confirm the present of, that is quite a lot. I'm going to try and email Cherokee County Historical Commission again for help but I already know even if they do answer this time, it's going to be easy. The Berryman or Forest Hill Plantation property potentially has three markers a medallion for the ole house, a grave marker for Helena Berryman and a marker for the Berryman cemetery itself. The Odom-Crawford House is in a state of disrepair and even if we can get to it the chances of it having a medallion is not good. The centennial marker for "Site of the Last Home of Bowles" was on private property and covered in dirt. I'm not exactly sure when the W. W. Durham Home and William Roark Home is. We didn't find the Elm Grove Common School marker but I have read it is being replaced. there are 6 markers that I just can't confirm. This is a little unusual as there are quite a lot of people out there with this crazy hobby, so if I can't find any pictures or see the markers in the google car it says this may be a problem on the road. We couldn't find the markers for Craft, Carey Lake Boggy Creek Oil Field and C. R. and Jennie Kelly House. The marker for Church founded by Chaplain Nicholas A. Davis has been removed from the church as the church is not longer meeting.