Crockett Park

Crockett Park takes its name from David Crockett, the Tennessee pioneer and congressman who joined Texas in its war for independence. Late in 1835, Crockett traveled by riverboat, horseback, and on foot into Texas along the Red River, and while camping half a mile northeast of this park he found wild bees and honey in hollow trees. In letters to family and friends, he called the campsite Honey Grove and was said to have told friends he would settle there later, but within weeks he died at the Alamo. Samuel A. Erwin, a Tennessee surveyor and old friend of Crockett, became the first settler there in 1839 and the first postmaster in 1846. Benjamin S. Walcott, who arrived in 1848, added his own land to his wife's legacy from James Gilmer and, with Erwin as co-founder, platted the town of Honey Grove on the Gilmer Grant and erected its first stone building. By 1885 Honey Grove had many businesses, including the weekly newspaper The Independent, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1887, and the town reached a peak population of 4,000 in 1890. The park stands on land bought from W.J. Erwin in 1919 and serves a dynamic community.

Honey Grove, Texas · United States