Carroll Springs Methodist Church
Athens, Henderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation traces its history through several Henderson County Methodist churches. Earliest worship services in Carroll Springs were held in private homes, with the Rev. William D. Sansom occasionally leading them. Worshipers went to county line after a Methodist church was organized there in 1859. The church was moved to New Hope in 1865 with the Rev. Joseph Franklin Lambright as pastor. He continued as the minister when the congregation moved to Coolsprings in 1872. In 1883, the Methodist congregation relocated to Carroll Springs, where it has remained since that time. The forty charter members were served by J. F. Lambright until his resignation in 1891. Other pastors have included his son, the Rev. J. M. M. Lambright, and the Rev. R. E. Gibbs. Carroll Springs Methodist Church traditionally has held a revival under the brush arbor beginning the first Sunday in August. An important part of this rural community, the church continues to reflect the ideals and traditions of its founders. Descendants of many of the charter members still worship here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Carroll Springs Methodist congregation carries a history of migration typical of rural East Texas, tracing its lineage through a chain of Henderson County churches that moved from homes to county line to New Hope, Coolsprings, and finally Carroll Springs in 1883. Guided for decades by the Rev. J. F. Lambright and later his son, its forty charter members planted a fellowship that endures. Its tradition of an August brush-arbor revival still echoes the camp-meeting roots of frontier Methodism.
Why it matters
The church's wandering path mirrors the restless settlement patterns of rural Texas, where communities and their congregations relocated together in search of a lasting home.
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Related people
- · Joseph Franklin Lambright
- · J. M. M. Lambright
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Carroll Springs Cemetery
Athens, TX
The Carroll Springs community, named for the Carroll family and nearby springs, began burying its dead here as early as 1859, with the earliest marked grave that of John Buck Hogg. In 1884 A.M. Carroll set aside nearly five acres for a school, church, and cemetery, and generations of pioneer families, ministers, teachers, and veterans of American wars from the Civil War onward were laid to rest here. The school later consolidated into Athens, but the Methodist church endures and the community still gathers each year to remember.
Lightfoot-Miller Cemetery
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On a hill above the water, this family cemetery holds generations of Henderson County pioneers who arrived in the 1850s and 1860s to endure the hardships of early Texas life. Among them lie James Wilburn Miller, a Tennessee-born Civil War veteran, and his grandson Isadore, killed in action in World War I. Iron-ore rocks are said to mark several Indian graves, and the long-neglected burial ground was recently restored.
Stafford-Tucker Cemetery
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The Stafford family reached Texas in the 1840s, and by 1851 son George Washington Stafford had married and put down roots in Anderson County. This family graveyard began in 1897 with the burial of an infant Tucker grandchild, followed soon after by James Monroe Stafford, killed in the line of duty as a county deputy sheriff in 1899. The Staffords helped shape the community of Price's Chapel — later Springfield — and their descendants have tended these graves ever since.
Davis Cemetery
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