Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Gregg County. Now settle in, because this story starts with a tree. Not a church, not a building, not even a plan.

A tree. A large pine tree, standing somewhere in what would become Gregg County, Texas, and in 1847 a group of people gathered underneath its branches and did something remarkable. They organized a church.

The first church in Gregg County, and one of the oldest in the entire state of Texas to have remained in continuous service ever since. That is not a small thing. That is the kind of staying power that deserves a moment of respect before we go any further.

Now, that pine tree is gone. The marker tells us so plainly. But before it came down, it served as the roof and the walls and the steeple all at once for a congregation just finding its footing.

And right there under those branches, Mrs. A. T.

Castleberry taught the first Sunday School class this church ever held. The name Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church, well, you can draw your own picture. Charter members, the founding souls who put their names to this thing in 1847, were Reverend Mr. and Mrs.

Soloman Awalt, Mr. and Mrs. A. T.

Castleberry, Mr. and Mrs. J. T.

Echols, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Freeze, Mr. and Mrs. Benj.

Fuller, Mr. and Mrs. John Rodden, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Starnes, and two others, J.

W. Barnes and James R. White.

Fourteen people, give or take how you count a mister and missus, and they built something that outlasted the very tree they started under. The first physical church was a log house. Simple, sturdy, the kind of structure that suits a congregation still proving itself.

Then came 1932, and the present structure went up. Then 1950, and they added the educational building. Three structures across more than a century, the same church, the same name, the same ground where a pine tree once stood and a woman named Mrs.

Castleberry once opened a Bible for the very first Sunday School class in Gregg County history. The tree is gone. The church is still there.

What the marker says

Organized in 1847. First church in Gregg County; one of oldest in Texas in continuous service. Named for large pine tree (now removed) under which services were held and where Mrs. A. T. Castleberry taught the first Sunday School class. Charter members were Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Soloman Awalt; Messrs. and Mmes. A. T. Castleberry, J. T. Echols, Jesse Freeze, Benj. Fuller, John Rodden and Milton Starnes; J. W. Barnes and James R. White. First church was a log house; present structure built 1932; the educational building, 1950.