Reed's Lake

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it to you the way only Duane can. Reed's Lake, Bell County. Now before you go thinking this is just another pretty spot on the map, let me tell you what happened here first.

This is the earliest settlement in all of Bell County. Let that settle in a moment. Not one of the earliest.

The earliest. It was founded in 1834, by men of the Sterling Robertson colony, out here when Bell County was still raw and new and the kind of place that asked a lot of a person just for showin' up. Decades passed.

The settlement endured. And then along came a man named John Burnett Reed. In 1859, Reed built his large house near this very spot, and that house, friends, is still in use.

Still standing. Still holding its ground after all these years. But Reed wasn't just building a home for himself.

He put in a cotton gin. He gave sites for a school and for a cemetery, the kind of landmarks that tell you a man was thinking past his own front porch, thinking about the people who'd come after him. And this place, this whole stretch of country, carries the name of his family to this day.

Reed's Lake. The oldest settled ground in Bell County, still going strong.

What the marker says

Earliest settlement in Bell County; founded 1834 by men of the Sterling Robertson colony. Named for family of John Burnett Reed, who in 1859 built near here his large house that is still in use; also put in cotton gin, and gave sites for a school and cemetery. (1967)