Pisgah Ridge
Richland, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Pisgah Ridge, known locally as "The Ridge" or "Pizgy Ridge," is an outcropping that begins at the northern extremity of the Tehuacana Hills about 12 miles south of Corsicana near the confluence of Richland and Pin Oak creeks. The peak of the limestone ridge, named for the biblical Mount Pisgah, was recorded at the altitude of 561 feet above sea level, but a landowner in the 1950s leveled it, reducing its elevation. The ridge contains many caves, but because of the soft limestone, most are greatly eroded. The two area creeks provide a natural supply of fish and mussels, and that coupled with the presence of game attracted settlers for centuries. In 1830, Cherokees reportedly burned a village south of the ridge that had been occupied by both Tonkawa and Tawakoni tribes. Within several years, settlers of European descent began arriving. Around 1850, a stagecoach inn near Richland Crossing, on the northern end of the ridge, served travelers. The Springfield Road traversed Navarro County across the ridge, and in addition to the stagecoach inn, pockets of settlers created communities in the area. Of the four settlements that developed along the ridge, Richland Crossing was the northernmost, followed by Mt. Pisgah, Mt. Nebo and Rushing. As more settlers came to the area, it gained a reputation for lawlessness, in part because of a feud between the Love and Anderson families, as well as an association with outlaw John Wesley Hardin. The railroad bypassed the area in the 1870s, and the new settlement of Richland drew residents away from the early Pisgah Ridge communities. Today, the ridge is a point of geological and historical interest. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pisgah Ridge, a limestone outcropping named for the biblical Mount Pisgah, long drew people to its caves, creeks, and game. In 1830 Cherokees reportedly burned a village here that had been shared by Tonkawa and Tawakoni people, and within a few years settlers of European descent arrived, building a stagecoach inn and small communities along the Springfield Road. The area gained a rough reputation from a family feud and its links to outlaw John Wesley Hardin before the railroad bypassed it in the 1870s and drew residents away.
Why it matters
The ridge compresses the frontier's overlapping histories — Native occupation, stagecoach-era settlement, and the boom-and-bust pull of the railroad — into a single Texas landmark.
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Related people
- · John Wesley Hardin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Springfield
Mexia, TX
Founded in 1838 around a spring donated by Moses Herrin, Old Springfield grew into the seat of newly formed Limestone County by 1846, complete with a two-story brick courthouse, a Methodist district that seeded the Northwest Texas Conference, and a short-lived college. The town's fortunes turned when the Houston & Texas Central Railroad passed it by in 1870, and two devastating fires in 1873 — one consuming the courthouse — hastened its end as buildings were carted off and the county seat moved to Groesbeck. Today only the old cemetery and Springfield Lake, inside Fort Parker State Park, carry the name of what was once the county's leading town.
Love-Anderson Feud
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In the volatile years of the Republic of Texas, the Navarro County frontier saw clashes with Native peoples and an empresario contract granted to Charles Fenton Mercer to stabilize settlement, pitting established "old Texian" families like the Loves—veterans of San Jacinto—against later arrivals such as colony agent Dr. William Nicks Anderson. When Love killed Anderson on Nubbin Lane in 1855, the grievance passed to their kin: Anderson's widow vowed revenge, and Love was slain near the same spot in 1873. The bloodshed spread across Texas, and the feud is remembered still among the many descendants living in the area.
Tehuacana
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Cade Cemetery
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The Cade community sprang up in the 1870s across the farmland where Navarro and Freestone counties meet, named for early resident Cade Hayes. Its cemetery opened in 1876 and the settlers built a church and Masonic hall on land deeded by the Coleman family. When a rail line bypassed the area in the early 1900s, Cade faded, but local women revived and still tend the burial ground.