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The History Of Honey Grove

David Crockett discovered the area of Honey Grove when he camped here on his way to join the Texas Army at San Antonio in 1836. Crockett sent many letters back to Tennessee, telling of an area with an abundance of honey-filled trees, hence the town’s name. In 1837, Samuel Erwin became the first settler of the city.
B.S. Walcott also contributed much to the town’s development, by planning the city’s landscape and later on by selling building lots. In 1873, Honey Grove was officially established.
Samuel Erwin and Davy Crockett, old friends from Kentucky, were instrumental in the founding of Honey Grove. Samuel Augustus Erwin has a large gravestone marker in Honey Grove, stating: “Virginia-born Samuel Erwin was married in 1819 in Tennessee to Sally Rodgers Crisp (1795-1860), in a ceremony performed by local magistrate David Crockett. First settler in the Honey Grove area, Erwin arrived here in 1837 and surveyed land grants for other pioneers. A surveyor by profession, he platted the town site for his friend B.S. Wolcott in 1848. He was the town’s first postmaster and one of Fannin County’s earliest Justices of the Peace.”
The Crockett Park Monument, in the same area, indicates that Honey Grove was named by Crockett, but he died before it could become a town. It states that one of his old friends, Sam Erwin, became the Founder of the Settlement. The monument reads in part that Crockett traveled by riverboat, horseback, and on foot, entering Texas along the Red River, camping at a site half a mile Northeast of today’s park, where he found wild bees and honey in hollow trees, and called the campsite a “honey grove”. He is said to have told friends he would settle here later, but he died a few weeks later in the cause of Texan liberty, at the Alamo.
In 2007, Honey Grove was also a temporary filming location for an episode of One Tree Hill, in which the local high school won a contest the CW and Sunkist promoted. Fans submitted videos in hopes their town would be selected. Mark Schwahn, the creator of One Tree Hill, ultimately chose Honey Grove High School as the winner. The cast from One Tree Hill, who filmed with Honey Grove High School, included Chad Michael Murray, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, James Lafferty, and Bethany Joy Lenz.
Please visit the Honey Grove Preservation League to learn more about our town’s wonderful history!