Site of Old Peach Tree Village

In 1836, as settlers fled the Texas Revolution in the Runaway Scrape, the Alabama people of Peach Tree stayed neutral at Sam Houston's request, according to the Handbook of Texas, and fed and cared for the refugees passing through. To signal that neutrality they displayed a large white cloth whenever a fleeing party approached. The village later became a frontier town with a store, gin, saloon, church, school and a post office from 1853. It faded after the Trinity and Sabine Railway missed it in 1883, and in 1912 Kirby built a brick chapel here for his parents.

What the plaque says

Site of Old Peach Tree Village In the early 19th century, the Alabama Indians -- then a large tribe -- made their headquarters on this site, and called their village "Ta-Ku-La," which meant "Peach Tree." Two trails blazed by early pioneers crossed here. A north-south trail came from Anahuac on the Gulf of Mexico, over the Neches River, leading onward to Nacogdoches; The other ran east-west from Opelousas, Louisiana, through what is now Moscow, to present Huntsville, then west to San Antonio. Other trails diverged from this: to the Galveston Bay area, San Felipe de Austin, and Goliad. The crossing of the trails made this a trading center of importance. With the coming of white settlers, the Alabama Indians withdrew, and the remnant of that tribe is now located about 15 miles south -- occupying the only Indian reservation in Texas. In Old Peach Tree village, some historic homes are marked. It is also site of the Kirby museum, founded by John Henry Kirby (1860-1940), who was born here, and whose career included service as a legislator, as well as leadership in lumbering, banking, oil development and railroad building.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Martin Dies, Jr. State Park — 25 mi
  A 705-acre state park on Steinhagen Reservoir at the meeting of the Neches and Angelina rivers, with about 14 miles of paddling trails through sloughs and more than 200 campsites.

More markers nearby

• Mount Hope Lodge No. 121, A. F. & A. M. — 1.8 mi
• Moscow, Camden & San Augustine Railroad — 7.7 mi
• Texas Statesman William Pettus Hobby — 13 mi
• Moscow — 13 mi