Pilot Grove in Helmuth Holtz's 1865 Map
I was asked to share a map showing the stagecoach route going through Pilot Grove (Grayson County, Texas), so here y'all go! This is the fabulous Holtz Map, published in 1865. It is a gargantuan resource that measures 19x7 feet and, lucky for us, has been digitized by the Library of Congress.
Publication date does not mean creation date. When this map was drawn, the routes indicated were present prior to the Civil War (1861-1865). Therefore, the stagecoach routes shown on this map stopped running during the conflict and some resumed after the war. Especially Pilot Grove's access during the conflict was spotty, as violence and uncertainty plagued the area during this time (Lee Peacock feud, Quantrill's gang).
Today, Pilot Grove is just a speck on the map, but it once was a crossroads for mail and passenger stage lines.
To view this map in its entirety, click here: https://www.loc.gov/item/2002622358/
Would that stage road through Pilot Grove have been passable or in use around 1871? I had pioneer ancestors with wagons and horses who moved in a line from Paris-Honey Grove-Bonham-Orangeville-Pilot Grove and on to Mckinney and Dallas and beyond...it seems plausible that they would likely have followed that road? Probably not much else to choose from? I saw the speck that was Pilot Grove in May; there is a nice historical marker at a crossroads, and a pretty Baptist church with its own marker.