DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at this Cass County site tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most roads out here got their names from towns, or rivers, or some forgettable county commissioner. But every once in a while, a road gets its name from a man — and that man was the kind of person you probably wouldn't want to meet alone on that road.
The road we're talkin' about is Trammel's Trace, and it crosses the very field you're lookin' at right now. The man behind it was Nicholas Trammell — horse trader and smuggler. That's not me editorializing; that's the record.
In 1813, Trammell established the road that would carry his name. Now, he didn't conjure it from nothing. He likely reused trails that had already been worn down by centuries of travel — game animals moving through the timber, Native Americans who knew this land long before any map was drawn, and the Spanish who came later.
Trammell was a practical man. Why build a road when the land has already shown you where to walk? But he improved on what he found.
By 1824, he had widened the trace for wagon use — because wagons meant settlers, and settlers meant something bigger was coming. You see, Trammel's Trace was one piece of a much longer story. It connected to the great Southwest Immigration Road running all the way from St.
Louis, Missouri. Trammell anchored his stretch at Fulton, Arkansas, right on the great bend of the Red River, and from there he extended that immigration corridor straight into Texas. The route entered Texas north of Texarkana, down in Bowie County, then crossed the Sulphur River into Cass County at Epperson's Ferry.
From there, it headed right past this point — this exact ground — before joining the pre-existing Spanish Trace, just one mile to the southwest. And from that junction, Trammell improved the Spanish Trace on southward to Nacogdoches, where it connected with the El Camino Real. That is one long thread stitchin' together the whole early story of Texas.
Near here, that Spanish or Mexican Trace was already linking early settlements on the Red River all the way south toward Nacogdoches. Trammell didn't replace that road — he grafted onto it, connecting the old world to the new traffic pouring in from the north. Many prominent Texas pioneers traveled past this very site.
Think about that for a moment. Every soul who came through on that immigration road, bound for a new life in Texas, passed right here. And as the decades wore on, the junction grew more crowded.
By the 1850s, roads from Monterey, Daingerfield, Boston, Naples, and Clarksville had all converged on this spot too. Where roads meet, people follow. A community grew up around that hub, and in time it would be known as Old Unionville — until residents moved the town north after the Civil War, and eventually the community faded away entirely.
But the ground doesn't forget. Archeological research has located the former settlement and documented the convergence of those early roads right at this site. And this particular stretch of Trammel's Trace — the one crossing this field — survived because people kept using it as a county road right into the 20th century.
That continued use is the very reason any of it is still here to find. Few vestiges of the trace remain anywhere today. But right here, the land held onto it.
A horse trader and smuggler from 1813 drew a line across Texas, pioneers followed it by the thousands, and somehow — through all the years and all the change — this piece of ground remembered.
What the marker says
Many prominent Texas pioneers traveled past this site as they entered Texas via the historic Texas route known as Trammel's Trace, which crosses this field. Near here, Trammel's Trace joined the Spanish or Mexican Trace connecting early settlements on the Red River with the El Camino Real near Nacogdoches. In 1813, horse trader and smuggler Nicholas Trammell established the road which bears his name, widening it for wagon use in 1824. By beginning at Fulton, Arkansas, on the great bend of the Red River, Trammell extended the great Southwest Immigration Road from St. Louis (Missouri) into Texas. The trace entered Texas north of Texarkana (Bowie Co.) and crossed the Sulphur River into Cass County at Epperson's Ferry. It headed past this point and joined the pre-existing Spanish Trace (1 mi. southwest). Trammell then improved the Spanish Trace southward to Nacogdoches. Trammell likely reused some trails that were worn down by centuries of travel by game animals, Native Americans and the Spanish. By the 1850s, other roads from the distant communities of Monterey, Daingerfield, Boston, Naples and Clarksville also converged on the junction, and a community developed near this hub of early roads. The site would become known as Old Unionville when residents moved the town north after the Civil War. Although the community no longer exists, archeological research has located the former settlement and documented the convergence of early roads at the site. Today, few vestiges of Trammel's Trace remain, but continued use of this section into the 20th century as a county road preserved this portion of the important immigration route. (2008)