Freedman Town

The plaque speaks of homes, churches and businesses; local historians have named some. At the November 17, 2022 dedication reported by the Navasota Examiner, speakers said Ira Malcolm Camp had 130 acres surveyed into lots he called South Navasota in 1866, the first sold to White buyers near Washington Avenue. The name drifted from Camp Canaan to Cannon to Freedman Town. Early businesses included J. M. Gibbs's store, Dr. A. P. Gart's large hotel, Nelson Jones's blacksmith shop, and the steam mill, gin and cotton press James Hampshire and John Scott built in 1873.

What the plaque says

Freedman Town Following emancipation in 1865, freed slaves purchased lots from Ira Malcolm Camp on land known as Camp Canaan. They established a community that they renamed Freedman Town. Citizens quickly erected homes and established churches, schools and businesses, many of which remain and have played a major role in the development and success of the area. A 1919 Dallas Express article reported a large and thriving African American community in Navasota with a flourishing business district, a testament to their determination during a time of segregation. Other amenities built by and for the African American community included a swimming pool and baseball field. (2020)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Navasota — 0.6 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 5.7 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 5.7 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 9.3 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• James H. Washington — 0.3 mi
• George Washington Carver High School — 0.3 mi
• Home of Lt. Gov. George D. Neal — 0.4 mi
• First Baptist Church of Navasota — 0.6 mi