Trammel's Trace
Marietta, Cass County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Many prominent Texas pioneers traveled past this site as they entered Texas via the historic Texas route known as Trammel's Trace, which crosses this field. Near here, Trammel's Trace joined the Spanish or Mexican Trace connecting early settlements on the Red River with the El Camino Real near Nacogdoches. In 1813, horse trader and smuggler Nicholas Trammell established the road which bears his name, widening it for wagon use in 1824. By beginning at Fulton, Arkansas, on the great bend of the Red River, Trammell extended the great Southwest Immigration Road from St. Louis (Missouri) into Texas. The trace entered Texas north of Texarkana (Bowie Co.) and crossed the Sulphur River into Cass County at Epperson's Ferry. It headed past this point and joined the pre-existing Spanish Trace (1 mi. southwest). Trammell then improved the Spanish Trace southward to Nacogdoches. Trammell likely reused some trails that were worn down by centuries of travel by game animals, Native Americans and the Spanish. By the 1850s, other roads from the distant communities of Monterey, Daingerfield, Boston, Naples and Clarksville also converged on the junction, and a community developed near this hub of early roads. The site would become known as Old Unionville when residents moved the town north after the Civil War. Although the community no longer exists, archeological research has located the former settlement and documented the convergence of early roads at the site. Today, few vestiges of Trammel's Trace remain, but continued use of this section into the 20th century as a county road preserved this portion of the important immigration route. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Trammel's Trace, established in 1813 by horse trader and smuggler Nicholas Trammell, was one of the earliest immigrant roads leading pioneers into Spanish and Mexican Texas. Running from the great bend of the Red River down toward Nacogdoches, it linked the Southwest Immigration Road from St. Louis to El Camino Real, often following even older paths worn by game and Native travelers. The crossroads community that grew here, Old Unionville, faded after the Civil War, though the trace's route survived into the twentieth century as a county road.
Why it matters
The trace was a primary artery of American migration into Texas, carrying the settlers whose arrival would reshape the region's future.
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Related people
- · Nicholas Trammell
Themes & tags
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