Elliott's Ferry

The ferry's 1849 permit set the tolls: a loaded wagon and team one dollar, a loaded cart and team 75 cents, a man or a horse 25 cents, and an eighth of a dollar for a foot passenger or a head of cattle. Before George Elliott bought the landing on January 22, 1839, the crossing was Cayce's Ferry, where a post called Station Colorado held thirty to forty soldiers under Captain Andrew Neill from late 1836 to about June 1837. A contract of February 14, 1902, worth about $23,200 to the American Bridge Company, ended the ferry.

What the plaque says

Elliott's Ferry During the early days of Anglo-American colonization in Texas, the Matagorda Bay Prairie area was an important route for people traveling between settlements. A convenient river crossing was a necessity, and a ferry was established on the Thomas Cayce league of land near this site. Known as Cayce's Ferry, the site was garrisoned by a small army post. In January 1839 George Elliott (1806-1862) purchased land on the west bank of the Colorado River from Thomas Cayce, and from that time the ferry crossing was known as Elliott's Ferry. George Elliott was assisted in his endeavors by two nephews, William Elliott and John Elliott, who continued the ferry business after George Elliott's death. By 1863 a small settlement had grown up around Elliott's Ferry. A small mercantile business and a post office known as Elliott's Ferry, Texas, were in operation in 1872. In 1893 the post office name was changed to Elliott, Texas, and a year later was moved to Bay City. In 1902 a bridge was built over the Colorado River two miles northwest of Bay City. Known as the "Old River Bridge", its completion resulted in the demise of Elliott's Ferry. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 21 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 25 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Dr. Henry Hofmann Loos — 0.3 mi
• Site of Hilliard High School — 1.1 mi
• Mother Zion Missionary Baptist Church — 1.4 mi
• Bethel Baptist Church — 1.4 mi