Peachtree Baptist Church
Jasper, Jasper County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Peachtree Baptist Church As the community of Bevilport (2 mi. Sw) declined with the decrease of commerce on the Angelina River, some residents moved to Peachtree. Baptists who had belonged to the Indian Creek Church in Bevilport worshiped in the Peachtree Methodist Church and formally established themselves as the Peachtree Missionary Baptist Church in January 1910. Originally part of the Bethlehem Baptist Association, the church joined the Sabine Valley Association in 1935. The congregation held services twice a month until 1951, when they completed their own sanctuary and called a full-time pastor. Steady growth since World War II has resulted in additional facilities and programs for the church. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the river port of Bevilport faded with the decline of commerce on the Angelina River, some of its residents resettled at Peachtree, where Baptists worshiped alongside Methodists before formally organizing their own congregation in 1910. For decades they held services only twice a month, sharing preachers across a rural circuit, until they built their own sanctuary and called a full-time pastor in 1951. Steady growth after World War II brought new facilities and programs.
Why it matters
The church traces how East Texas communities regrouped and endured as river-trade towns gave way to a changing rural economy.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Andrew F. Smyth Home
Jasper, TX
Andrew F. Smyth, a riverman and farmer, built this Jasper home in 1849, milling its lumber on site and bringing glass and hardware upriver from Galveston. It survives as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark from the era of the young state.
Bevilport
Jasper, TX
On the Angelina River, Bevilport became the seat of the Bevil municipality in 1834 and a busy inland shipping point, its docks crowded with flatboats and keelboats carrying cotton, hides, and other East Texas goods downriver to New Orleans. It took its name from John Bevil, a Texas Ranger, delegate to the 1835 Consultation on Texas independence, and later chief justice of Jasper County. Like many river towns, it thrived on the rich bottomlands and the water route to market.
Site of the Town of Bevilport
Jasper vicinity, TX
Established by John Bevil, Bevilport was an important river navigation point from 1830 to 1860 and gave its name to the municipality first organized in 1834. It served as a mail station in 1835, was county seat of Jasper County from 1836 to 1837, and was incorporated in 1837. A business and social center on the Angelina River trade, the town thrived until the Civil War.
Site of the Town of Zavala
Jasper, TX
Zavala grew up on land within the 1829 empresario grant to Lorenzo de Zavala, the Mexican statesman who would later help found the Republic of Texas, and it took his name. Set along a river, the town served as an early boat landing and a mail and stage stop, and it incorporated in 1838. Its post office lasted until the Civil War before the community faded into memory.