Old Coffeeville, C. S. A.

Two stories explain the name. A 1946 county history says a merchant brought green coffee from Jefferson or Shreveport when settlers were parching corn and okra, and the town earned its nickname. The Handbook of Texas says it was named for the Coffee family, early settlers. It adds that when Jefferson was a river port, Coffeeville was the first day's goal for wagon trains heading west, stopping for supplies, repairs and rest. The post office opened in 1852 and closed in 1915, and about fifty people lived here in 1936.

What the plaque says

Old Coffeeville, C. S. A. Ferry point near this site, on Big Cypress. Important town of 1850's, with an academy, 2 dry goods stores, 2 groceries, drug store, 3 doctors, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, a hotel and Masonic lodge. During Civil War, lived up to its name, selling coffee when other towns had none. Had a Confederate camp of instruction, one of three in Upshur County, established in response to June 8, 1861, call of Governor Edward Clark for such camps to be set up at expense of local citizens. Trained infantry and cavalry.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Daingerfield State Park — 13 mi
  A pine-and-hardwood park built in 1935-39 by a white and a Black Civilian Conservation Corps company, with a dammed lake, Bass Lodge and a 2.4-mile loop trail around the water.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 24 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.
• Excelsior House Hotel — 24 mi
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 25 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.

More markers nearby

• Col. John Hamilton McNairy — steps away
• Site of the Guarantee State Bank — 3.5 mi
• Port Bolivar & Iron Ore Railroad — 3.6 mi
• Murry Institute — 3.8 mi