Site of the Town of Mount Sterling
Douglass, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established by John Durst in 1837. Near the ruins of the Mission La Purisima Concepcion de Maria he built a saw and grist mill; in the town, a large warehouse. From his house he could see the boats moored to the wharves on the Angelina. The Cordova Rebellion in 1838 sealed the doom of the town. Durst moved to Leon County. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Durst founded Mount Sterling in 1837 near the ruins of an old Spanish mission, building a saw and grist mill and a large warehouse along the Angelina River, where boats moored at its wharves. For a brief moment it promised to be a thriving river town of the young Republic of Texas. But the Córdova Rebellion of 1838—an uprising involving disaffected Tejanos and Native allies against the Republic—unsettled the region, and Durst abandoned the place, leaving Mount Sterling to fade into a ghost town.
Why it matters
Mount Sterling's brief rise and fall captures the fragile ambitions of river-town commerce in the Republic of Texas, undone by the ethnic and political conflicts of the frontier.
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Related people
- · John Durst
Related events
- · Córdova Rebellion
Themes & tags
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