Cove

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it straight along to you. Somewhere in the marshlands of Chambers County, a story was quietly taking root, and it starts with a man who, by reputation anyway, had some colorful company in his past. In 1824, a fellow named Joseph Lawrence arrived here.

He was from New York, and word had it he'd been running with Jean Lafitte's privateering band. Now the marker doesn't say the privateers dropped him off personally, but it does say he settled on a nearby marshland ridge. That stretch of land came to be known as Lawrence's Island, and it became the nucleus of what would grow into a real community.

Families started finding their way here: James Haney, and members of the Dugat, Stubbs, and Wilburn families, all putting down roots around that same ridge. Then in 1827, a man named A.B.J. Winfree came over from Louisiana and settled on a land grant.

The community that spread out around his property picked up the name Winfree's Cove, and eventually folks just started calling it Cove. Simple as that. Cattle was the original backbone of the local economy, but the community didn't stop there.

Farming came in. So did fishing and fur trapping. Ferries carried people across the water.

A shipyard took shape. General stores opened their doors. A post office ran from 1885 all the way into the 1940s.

A school was established in the 1870s and kept going until it consolidated with the Barbers Hill District in 1937. Churches stood at the center of community life too. Now here's a detail that says something about the people of Cove.

In 1973, when annexation came knocking, the residents didn't just grumble about it. They incorporated as a municipality specifically to keep that from happening. They wanted to govern themselves, and they made it official.

The marker calls Cove an important agricultural center for Chambers County and the upper Texas coastal region. But what it's really describing is a place where independence wasn't just a word people used at Fourth of July celebrations. It was the whole point.

What the marker says

In 1824 Joseph Lawrence of New York, reputed member of Jean Lafitte's privateering band, settled on a nearby marshland ridge. Known as Lawrence's Island, it became the nucleus of later settlement, which included James Haney and members of the Dugat, Stubbs, and Wilburn families. In 1827 A.B.J. Winfree came here from Louisiana and settled on a land grant. The Widespread community around his property soon became known as Winfree's Cove and later simply as Cove. The economy of the Cove community was originally based on cattle, but later included farming, fishing and fur trapping. Several businesses were located here, including ferries, a shipyard and general stores. The settlement also included a post office from 1885 to the 1940s, a school which was established in the 1870s and consolidated with the Barbers Hill District in 1937, and churches. In order to avoid annexation, Cove was incorporated as a municipality in 1973. An important agricultural center for Chambers County and the upper Texas coastal region, the town of Cove has maintained a form of local government that reflects the residents' values, independence and rich heritage. (1982)