Site of Collier's Ferry
Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Main crossing on Old Jasper Road and alternate crossing on Opelousas Trail from Liberty through Beaumont to Louisiana. Used as early as 1750, route followed Indian traces and was highway for explorer-settlers, priests, soldiers, traders from Spain, France and Anglo-America. Ferry's most important use was as cattle crossing on famous Opelousas Trail from 1820's to 1900. Herds came this way to bypass the streets of Beaumont. Although others ran it during 1831-1950 career, ferry took its name from John Collier family who operated it for 50 years. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A crossing near this spot on the old Opelousas Trail carried travelers over the Neches as early as 1750, when Spanish, French, and Anglo explorers, priests, and traders followed Indian traces toward Louisiana. Its greatest era came from the 1820s to 1900, when great cattle herds forded here to bypass the streets of Beaumont. Though many operated it, the ferry took its lasting name from the Collier family, who ran it for fifty years.
Why it matters
River ferries were the hinges of early Southern travel and the cattle economy, quietly determining where trails, trade, and towns could go.
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Related people
- · John Collier
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Nancy Tevis
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In 1825 Nancy Nixon Tevis and her husband Noah settled a bluff on the Neches, becoming the first known Anglo-Americans there and later receiving a Republic of Texas land grant covering much of what became Beaumont. Widowed young, Nancy held her ground with eight children through the Runaway Scrape of 1836, ran a profitable ferry, and joined with others in 1837 to found the town — renaming it from Tevis Bluff to Beaumont. Fiercely protective of her rights, she once appealed directly to President Sam Houston over a land dispute.
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