DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for North Cedar Community in Trinity County tells it like this, and I'll do my best to honor every word of it. Now, deep in Trinity County, Texas, there's a stretch of land that once hummed with the sound of axes, schoolbells, and Sunday-morning prayers. It called itself North Cedar Community, and the story of how it rose and faded is the kind of story this part of Texas knows all too well.
The first pioneer the marker names is Abner Womack, who arrived in 1856 with his family in tow. Close on the heels of the Womacks came Benjamin and Susan Burke, bringing their children into country so wild that — and I want you to sit with this — the family reportedly slept in tree houses. Not for the romance of it.
For the fear of animal attacks. While they perched up in the branches, slaves built their log house below. That detail doesn't get softened by time or distance.
It's right there in the record. Then came 1865. The widowed Mary Roach — born Mary Boon — arrived with four of her sons.
Another son, William, had been serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and he rejoined the family when it was over. That pattern repeated itself across the whole community. North Cedar became a small enclave of Confederate supporters, many of them refugees from ravaged southern states, Mississippi in particular, all of them hunting for some kind of new beginning.
Many were flat destitute after the war. But they stayed. And the community kept growing.
By 1875, the place had enough of a soul to organize a church — the Williamson Cemetery Church, nondenominational, built right on the grounds of the already-existing Williamson Cemetery. Then in 1884, Womack School opened its doors. The very first teacher to stand at the front of that room was Marion Jefferson Roach — Jeff, to anyone who knew him.
A Roach teaching in a school named Womack, in a community built by both families. Trinity County keeps its connections close. Most folks farmed, as they always had.
But from 1900 to 1912, Southern Pine Lumber Company came in and put a good many North Cedar residents to work. When the Depression arrived and the lumber era wound down, the Civilian Conservation Corps stepped up — building roads, fire lanes, and bridges that made the community accessible in any weather for the first time. You could finally get in and out without praying for dry ground.
But the farms were small. Most under a hundred acres, and that's too small to justify modern agricultural machinery. The math didn't pencil out.
In 1939, Womack School was consolidated with Apple Springs Schools. Then World War II pulled the young people toward the cities to support the homefront effort. Farms got rolled into larger parcels better suited to cattle raising.
Paper companies bought up much of the land the lumber crews had left behind. And North Cedar Community just… quieted down. By the early twenty-first century, all that remained were a few scattered houses.
No school, no church organizing on cemetery grounds, no tree-house sleepers watching for animals in the dark. Just the land, and what it remembers. Some communities leave monuments.
North Cedar left a marker — and the marker leaves it to you to reckon with what that means.
What the marker says
Among the first pioneers to settle the area that became North Cedar Community was Abner Womack, who arrived here with his family in 1856. Benjamin and Susan Burke and their children reportedly slept in tree houses for fear of animal attacks while slaves built their log house. The widowed Mary (Boon) Roach arrived with four of her sons in 1865. Another son, William, rejoined the family after serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. North Cedar Community soon became a small enclave of Confederate supporters. Many had left the ravaged southern states, particularly Mississippi, in search of new beginnings. Many in the area were destitute after the war, but the community continued to grow. In 1875 the nondenominational Williamson Cemetery Church was organized on the grounds of the existing Williamson Cemetery. Womack School, established in 1884, was first taught by Marion Jefferson "Jeff" roach. Though most residents continued to farm, Southern Pine Lumber Company provided jobs for many in North Cedar Community from 1900 to 1912. The Civilian Conservation Corps built and maintained roads, fire lanes and bridges during the Depression era, making the North Cedar Community more accessible in any weather. Few area farms were more than 100 acres, making them too small to bear the expense of modern agricultural machinery. The school was consolidated with Apple Springs Schools in 1939, and most young people moved to the cities to support the World War II homefront effort. Farms were consolidated into larger parcels more suited to cattle raising, and paper companies bought much of the former lumber lands. In the early 21st century, all that remained of North Cedar Community were a few scattered houses. (2000)