Camden, AKA Walling�s Ferry, Texas, Gregg County Sabine River ghost town. (original) (raw)
Camden Cemetery fallen tombstones
Photo courtesy Maryanne Gobble, December 2010
History in a Pecan Shell
One of the earliest communities in Gregg County, Camden grew around a crossing of the Sabine River (John Walling�s Ferry). Mr. Walling arrived in Texas in the early 1830s or before. Walling�s operation had been licensed by the Mexican government and was doing business when Sam Houston entered Texas in 1932. During the early years, the names Camden and Walling�s Ferry were used interchangeably.
In the mid 1840s, an entrepreneur named Enoch Hays saw the need for a hotel and built an eight-room, two story tavern with sleeping rooms. From the late 1840s through 1872, the community had a post office � usually named Walling�s Ferry and sometimes called Camden. The postmaster would accept either address.
Steamboats could navigate up the Sabine River as far as Camden into the 1850s, but a decline set in even before the end of the Civil War. The river bottom provided harborage for mosquitoes and the populace was constantly under threat of malaria and other water-borne diseases and parasites. Residents relocated to higher ground but what finally erased Camden from maps was the establishment of Iron Bridge.
Camden�s population had fled by the late 1860s and by the 1870s it was a full-fledged ghost town. It was dropped from maps, long before the 20th Century although the Camden cemetery is said to remain in use.
"We were out there again today and walked through the woods a bit more."
- Maryanne Gobble
Photographer's Notes:
Camden Cemetery near Easton
"About 10 miles South of Longview, take FM 2906 to Easton. Near Easton lies what remains of Camden, formerly known as Walling's Ferry."
Direction to the Cemetery
"The cemetery is on an unmarked road directly west from Church St. in Easton. It dead ends into a field with the cemetery to the right and a few crumbled houses in the woods to the left. There is a small gated section of the cemetery, then a few grave sites nearby that are falling apart. As far as we could see there weren't any no tresspassing signs of any sort."
Camden Cemetery fallen tombstones
Photo courtesy Maryanne Gobble, December 2010
The Houses in the Forest
"They are visible from the field if you look closely. One is flattened but has glass bottles and bricks scattered about. There is a concrete well and remains of the structure. Many bricks had "Dallas" printed on them. The second house is about to cave in and should not be entered. The brush is a little thick and has lots of sharp thorns. Long sleeves and pants are necessary."
Looking through the broken window
Photo courtesy Maryanne Gobble, December 2010
Camden, Texas Update
"I visited yesterday to photograph the condition of the house and cemetery that remains in Camden. The field that both things were near is actually now a pad for a well head from recent drilling, and the house and cemetery both are nearly consumed by nature." - Ashley Bowers, Longview, TX, March 18, 2015
The abandoned house in Camden
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
The abandoned house in Camden
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Camden Cemetery broken tombstone
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Camden Cemetery broken 1895 tombstone
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Camden Cemetery fallen tombstone
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Camden Cemetery Etheridge 1882 tombstone, still standing
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Camden Cemetery
Photo courtesy Ashley Bowers, March 18, 2015
Gregg County 1907 postal map showing Longview and Sabine River
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office
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