Sandies-Dewville Community
Nixon, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sandies was settled in the 1830s by members of Green DeWitt's Colony. A church (1842), Masonic Lodge (1858), and school were established. Tom and Frank Dew opened their store and gin one mile from Sandies in 1886. A post office opened in 1894 at the new community of Dewville. After Mrs. C. C. Vernor platted the townsite in 1897, the church and school relocated. Dewville's population dwindled after World War II, and the post office closed in 1955. Today, a cemetery marks the site of Sandies, while the Methodist church and the I.O.O.F. Cemetery remain in Dewville. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sandies grew up in the 1830s among settlers of Green DeWitt's Mexican-era colony, quickly gaining a church, a Masonic lodge, and a school in the decades that followed. When the Dew brothers opened a store and cotton gin a mile off in 1886 and a post office followed in 1894, the center of gravity shifted to a new townsite platted as Dewville, drawing the church and school with it. Like many small Texas farming communities, Dewville faded after World War II, its post office shuttering in 1955, and today only cemeteries and a lone Methodist church mark where the two settlements once stood.
Why it matters
The rise and slow disappearance of Sandies and Dewville trace the whole arc of rural Texas life, from empresario-colony frontier to railroad-and-gin farm town to the postwar drift that emptied the countryside.
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Related events
- · Green DeWitt's Colony settlement
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sandies Chapel Cemetery
Nixon, TX
This burial ground began with the family of Joseph and Catherine McCoy, pioneers of Green DeWitt's colony, and later served the Sandies Chapel community, with graves reaching back to the 1860s. Among those laid to rest here are a San Jacinto veteran, citizens of the Republic of Texas, Civil War soldiers of the local home guard, and four pioneer Methodist ministers. In one small plot lies a cross-section of early Texas history.
Dewville United Methodist Church
Nixon, TX
Methodist worship in the Sandies community began in 1842, and Sandies Chapel was formally chartered by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1857. When settlement shifted, the congregation moved a mile in 1897 to the new town of Dewville, building on land donated by Mrs. C. C. Vernor, wife of an early pastor. The church has remained an active center of local life ever since.
1835 Attack at Sandies Water Hole
Gonzales County, TX
Raids were a constant fear in DeWitt's Colony after its 1825 founding, and Green DeWitt built a fort at Gonzales and begged Mexican authorities for troops and a cannon. In 1835 a party of thirteen French and Mexican traders bound from Natchitoches to Mexico camped at Sandies Water Hole, where a large force—believed to be Comanche—fell upon them. The fight lasted hours and left all thirteen dead, and with no help forthcoming from the Mexican government, such attacks continued at the site into Texas statehood.
Gonzales-San Antonio Road
Gonzales County, TX
When Green DeWitt planted his colony on the Guadalupe River in 1825, he ordered a road cut to link his capital at Gonzales with San Antonio, and surveyor Byrd Lockhart opened the eighty-mile route in 1827—its mileage notched into roadside oak trunks. Settlers, traders, and Mexican travelers braved the road despite the danger of raids. A decade later it became a thoroughfare of the Texas Revolution: the 'Immortal 32' marched down it from Gonzales to reinforce the Alamo, and Santa Anna's army followed after the fort fell.