DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Tarver's Ferry — and it's one worth pullin' over for. Picture Big Cypress Creek cutting through East Texas, and right there at one of its most strategic crossings, a ferry working the water. This wasn't just any convenient spot — it was a lifeline for settlers pushing west into Texas.
Folks coming through the populous town of Jefferson, riding up along Big Cypress Bayou, would make their way to this crossing, horses and oxen in tow, and step aboard that ferry to get to the other side. Now before they pushed on into the interior of Texas, many of them would stop at the nearby town of Coffeeville — stocking up on provisions, catching their breath before the long haul ahead. The man who probably ran this operation was James L.
Tarver. The marker says probably, and I appreciate that honesty. What it does tell us is that Tarver lived on Coffeeville Road back in the 1860s, right there in the thick of all that westward traffic.
But here's the thing about that crossing — it had been a crossing long before any ferry, long before any settler set foot on its banks. The Caddo Indians forded that same stream at that same point in their own travels. Many years before Tarver, before the settlers, before all of it.
And crossings that matter tend to keep mattering. By 1867, a bridge went up right there at the site. Once that bridge was standing, the ferry was no longer needed.
Just like that — the water kept flowing, but the ferry was done.
What the marker says
Once located at a strategic crossing of Big Cypress Creek, this pioneer ferry transported settlers moving west into Texas through populous Jefferson, on Big Cypress Bayou. Those going to the interior of Texas often came by horse or oxen, stopping for provisions at nearby town of Coffeeville. The ferry operator probably was James L. Tarver, who lived on Coffeeville Road, 1860s. Many years before, the Caddo Indians forded stream at this same point in their travels. By 1867 a bridge was built at the crossing and the ferry was no longer needed.