Stephen F. Austin State University

Church, School Lasting Legacies of 'Uncle Sol' (July 2015)

Church, school lasting legacies of 'Uncle Sol'

By Van Craddock

Solomon Awalt knew East Texas was mighty fertile ground for a preacher. In 1847 he arrived from Tennessee and held a prayer meeting under a towering pine tree.
From that meeting was organized Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Gregg County's first church and one of Texas' oldest houses of worship in continuous service. Longview's Pine Tree Independent School District also traces its beginning to the church.
Rev. Awalt had little formal education but that didn't dampen his fervor for spreading the faith. "Uncle Sol" - as he was affectionately known by parishioners - and wife Anne organized several churches before arriving in what at that time was a part of Upshur County. (Gregg County wasn't organized until 1873.)
Around that first tiny pine-log church grew a settlement that settlers named after the reverend and his wife. Awalt was located on the Tyler-Marshall Road (today U.S. 80) a couple of miles north of the Sabine River. Travelers forded the river via a raft known as Awalt's Ferry.
By 1857 the original church building was replaced by a larger hexagonal frame structure. During the Civil War the reverend served as a chaplain for the Confederacy's 11th Texas Infantry, headed by future Texas Gov. O.M. Roberts. Poor health forced Awalt to return to pastor the Pine Tree church prior to war's end.
Rev. Awalt served Pine Tree Cumberland for 25 years before leaving in 1872 to help organize other congregations. During his time at Pine Tree, he and other Marshall Presbytery officials helped establish Chapel Hill College in Daingerfield (Morris County).
In 1873 the thriving community of Awalt found itself sitting in the middle of the newly created Gregg County, carved out of southern Upshur County. The new county needed a seat of government, and in June 1873 voters went to the polls to select either Awalt or the new village of Longview for the honor.
Longview won the election, 524 votes to Awalt's 125.
When the railroad bypassed Awalt, the little community waned and finally disappeared from the map. Many Awalt residents relocated east to Longview or west to Willow Springs, which had been established as a station when the rail line came through in 1873.
Rev. Awalt eventually wound up in the North Texas county of Montague, where he died in 1890. However, unlike his namesake village, the popular pastor was far from forgotten back in East Texas.
In December 1903, Longview's Texas New Era newspaper told its readers:
"It is the desire of the Presbytery of the Cumberland church to have the remains of 'Uncle Sol' removed from Montague County and reinterred in the Pine Tree Cemetery. All who desire to contribute for this purpose will please leave the amount with either of the Longview banks."
The fund drive was a success. A month later Longview residents were happy to read:
"The remains of 'Uncle Sol' Awalt, an early pioneer of this section, were brought back to his home three miles from (Longview) this week and interred with appropriate ceremony. Many historical instances cluster about his name, around which are spun many stories of romance."
The preacher was buried in Fisher Cemetery on Silver Falls Road, near U.S. 80. The areas once known as Awalt and Willow Springs came to be called Greggton. Like the rest of Gregg County, Greggton became a boomtown when the East Texas Oil Field was discovered in the early 1930s.
Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church (at 1805 Pine Tree Road) and Pine Tree ISD continue to thrive, lasting legacies of "Uncle Sol" Awalt.