Samuel Damon

Damon reached Texas by swimming. Mexican officials at the mouth of the Brazos were turning away new American settlers in 1831, so the Massachusetts carpenter slipped ashore unnoticed and found shelter with Abraham Darst, whose daughter Lorena he later married. He built a home on the mound on Darst's land, joined the siege of Bexar, and supplied brick and lumber from a kiln and, from 1840, a sawmill. His big gamble was a railroad: he mortgaged 5,000 acres to a New York bank for equipment, and when the war stalled the line he lost the land.

What the plaque says

Samuel Damon (1809 - 1883) Born in Massachusetts. Came to Texas in 1831. Served in Texas Revolution at Siege of Bexar as wagonmaster for Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas". Stole the bells of Mission Concepcion (property of Mexico, Texas' enemy) to melt into bullets. Also aided Gen. Sam Houston in 1836 campaign Received a land grant from Republic of Texas, 1838. In this county, gave name to mineral-rich Damon Mound and to town where he was brickmaker for 50 years. Recorded - 1970

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brazos Bend State Park — 11 mi
  Oak and pecan bottomland, lakes and alligators on the Brazos River 45 miles from downtown Houston, with the museum's George Observatory in the woods.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 11 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.
• 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.
• Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge — 31 mi
  Coastal prairie, salt marsh and bays between Freeport and Christmas Bay, where an auto tour along Big Slough passes wintering geese, ducks and wading birds in the tens of thousands.

More markers nearby

• Abraham Darst — steps away
• Damon Cemetery — steps away
• Needville Methodist Church Cemetery — 8.8 mi
• W. H. Abrams Well No. 1 — 9.3 mi