Sartain Homestead

The Handbook of Texas starts the story of Arp with the Sartains: in 1868 John G. and Eliza Sartain bought six acres from Henry Moore, the earliest occupation it records for the area. The International-Great Northern Railroad came through in 1872, and the stop was called Jarvis Switch. Local nurseries developed a peach called the Arp Beauty, and in 1897 a farmer named J. W. Melton moved from Troup and became the first local to ship tomatoes to northern markets. By 1902 most residents were small farmers on 10 to 100 acres.

What the plaque says

Sartain Homestead John Grayson Sartain (1834-1905) and his wife Eliza Elvira (Gaut) (1837-1918) bought land here in 1868 and began construction of this frame home using timber from their property. Later, neighbors helped place the house on a sled and used oxen and mules to drag it 1/4 mile to this location. In 1913 Sartain's son Lee and his wife Cora (Wilson) bought the farm and the family moved into a tent in the front yard while a second story was being constructed. Lee Sartain served as an Arp banker and continued to raise cotton and peaches on this farm, owned by the family for over a century. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 5.5 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• East Texas Oil Museum — 15 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 19 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 19 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.

More markers nearby

• Omen (Canton) Community — 4.5 mi
• First Methodist Church of Overton — 5.3 mi
• New London School Explosion — 5.5 mi
• Joiner No. 3 Daisy Bradford — 6.8 mi