The Old Preston Road

The upper portion of this 1840 map by General Cooke of today's Grayson and Fannin counties, Texas shows a number of places that no longer exist. The trail that General Cooke mapped is now known as Preston Road!

- Warren (now, a field in the vicinity of Ambrose);

- English's (the Inglish land grant, later the vicinity of Bonham)

- Coffee's Station (later, Preston, now under Lake Texoma);

- Shawnee Town next to Coffee's trading post (later the site of Red River City and now, a sand/gravel pit);

- Post on Red River (a small camp, later known as Fort Johnson, that served westward travelers, including Marcy's outfit in 1852);

- The Chihuahua Road (an attempt at establishing a trade route between the U.S. and Mexico through the Republic of Texas);

- Pilot Grove (became a stage coach stop between Dallas, McKinney, Bonham, Paris, and Clarksville)

This map by the Texas General Land Office is featured in my book, "Traveling History among the Ghosts: Abandoned Places in the Red River Valley." While not all of the landmarks on this map are featured in the travel guide because there are no longer remains that can be visited, there are still plenty of references to these important places contained therein.