Weches CCC Camp

Company 888's work at Weches left a state park. In 1934 local citizens bought land and put up a marker for Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, and the federal government sent the Civilian Conservation Corps to build a park on it. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says the company built a representation of the original mission, picnic areas, a pavilion since rebuilt, and a small dam and pond. The parks department adds that traces of El Camino Real de los Tejas, the road past the mission, survive in the park.

What the plaque says

Weches CCC Camp Weches Camp P-58-T was established by the Federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on June 19, 1933. Manned by Company 888, the Weches camp was the first CCC camp established in Houston County. It contained barracks, a mess hall, recreation area, post office and medical infirmary. Camp enrollees helped restore and develop the Davy Crockett National Forest and the Historic 118-acre San Francisco Mission State Forest. They planted trees, built roads, developed park facilities and erected log structures and fire observation towers. The camp closed in November 1935. (1995)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 6.9 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 24 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Mission San Francisco de los Tejas — 0.6 mi
• The Joseph R. Rice Log Cabin — 0.7 mi
• Mission San Francisco de los Tejas — 0.8 mi
• Community of Weches — 1.0 mi