Confederate Reuion Grounds

 

 

Confederate Reunoin Grounds State Historic Site has a long and storied past. Its very existence was born out of soldiers' shared honor and heartache on the bloody battlefields of the Civil War. The men in gray came back with little fanfare, and, with much struggle, began to build the new South. But they also wanted a place to remember--a meeting place where they could march in ranks once more and hand down their recollections to the younger generations.

The seventy-seven acres of towering bur oaks and crystal springs tucked along the bend of the Navasota River and Jacks Creek have always served as a gathering place. Evidence in the park suggests the earliest campers were nomadic hunter-gatherers during the archaic period from 6,000 to 200 B.C

In 1888 a group of Limestone County Veterans met at what was then known as the 'Pen Camp meeting Grounds', a beautiful woodland campground at the intersection of Jack's Creek and the Navasota River. Magnificent bur oaks provided cooling shade and a nearby spring provided water. The following year in 1889 the veterans officially formed their own group choosing the name Joseph E. Johnston. On June 16, 1892 they purchased the first 20 acres of what was to become the Confederate Reunion Grounds.

The land was divided into lots with the main streets of Lee Avenue and Jackson Avenue. An eight sided dance pavilion was added in 1893 and the reunions grew. The Old Val Verde cannon was a centerpiece of the camp, it fired a thunderous volley at dawn and dusk each day. The reunions continued strong through 1914, but with the start of World War I the mood of reunions became more reflective and less festive.

The Confederate Reunion Grounds State Park Historical Society "STRIVING TO PRESERVE TEXAS HISTORY"