My family has been in this area of Texas since before the Civil War. It started with Alpheus Wright when he and his family settled in Harrison County from Kentucky in 1847, where they lived in a log cabin until the completion of their home in 1849. (Written account from Eudora Coleman Hodges, great-granddaughter of Alpheus, Harrison County Archives) Situated upon 640 acres, the plantation produced major quantities of cotton and was a social center for the Jonesville community. The plantation remained successful through the 1850s but began experiencing decline as the Civil War approached in the 1860s. Another contributing factor to the plantation's decline was the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868. This altered the stagecoach line as well, which ran from Jefferson to Shreveport directly in front of Locust Grove. After Alpheus and his wife passed away, the land was sub-divided among family members in 1883, and the house became the property of Eudora Perry Wright, the widow of their only son.
Although the plantation no longer exists, several of the original outbuildings still stand such as a slave cabin, a log cabin, the Wright's first home, and a barn. Although the outbuildings are in deteriorating shape, they still remain as visual memories that give one a glimpse into the past of the old plantation. As do the magnificence magnolias in front of the house which were planted by seed by Alpheus's wife in 1848. Locust Grove was registered into the National Registry of Historical Places on June 20, 1979.
Bill Coleman road has a lot of history and as an avid geocaching family we could not believe there were no caches out on this road. We decided to do a series of these for your enjoyment and ours. May you be able to find them all!
This information and more can be found at this link:
http://www.sfasu.edu/heritagecenter/4981.asp