Blackberry Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Grimes County, near a little waterway called John's Creek, a community took root the way so many Texas communities did, quietly, gradually, and with a whole lot of hard work. Settlers came mostly from the Lower South, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and they put down in this corner of the county and called it Blackberry.

By the late nineteenth century, Blackberry had become a largely African-American settlement, and the families who built their lives here raised livestock and worked the land, growing cotton and corn. At its peak, and there was a peak, Blackberry could boast a cotton gin, a grist mill, and stores. That is a community.

That is people building something real. Now, anchoring the whole thing spiritually and educationally was Macedonia Baptist Church, which dates all the way back to 1870. In 1899, William and Martha Burrell sold land to three trustees named A.

W. Ruckett, J. L.

Nickerson, and Starling Baker, formalizing the church's place in the community. And here is the part that carries extra weight when you think about the era: the church site also served as an African-American school. One piece of ground doing double duty, keeping a community alive in every sense of the word.

Then came the Great Depression, and Blackberry's population began to decline. The school closed in the 1960s. The cotton gin, the grist mill, the stores, they faded.

But Macedonia Baptist Church did not fade. Every year, descendants make the journey back for the annual homecoming. They come back to John's Creek, back to Grimes County, back to the ground where their people planted cotton and corn and, more than anything else, a community.

Some stories don't end. They just change their shape.

What the marker says

Settlers mostly from the Lower South (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia) settled this part of Grimes County near John's Creek. By the late 19th century, Blackberry became a largely African-American settlement. Most families raised livestock and such crops as cotton and corn. At its peak, the community also boasted a cotton gin, grist mill and stores. Macedonia Baptist Church dates from 1870; in 1899, William and Martha Burrell sold land to trustees A. W. Ruckett, J. L. Nickerson and Starling Baker. The church site was also an African-American school. Blackberry's population has declined since the Great Depression, and the school closed in the 1960s. Many descendants return during Macedonia Baptist Church's annual homecoming. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011