Previous Next

 Camp Nancy/David Renfro House 1986 Survey Information

• Site No.: Z-1176
• Name: Camp Nancy/David Renfro House
• Date: 1923
• Town: Rural Zavalla/Nancy Rural Area
• Description: Only structures standing are a modern residence and farm complex; the site of the commissary building is said to have been located next to the current well.
• Significance: Site of an Angelina County Lumber Company Camp during the 1920s; Floyd Hubbard and family (Mrs. Gibson) moved there from San Augustine; company had commissary buildings, boarding house; 12′ x 12′ each for six rooms, houses for families; also had “car houses” which they could load onto railroad cars and move them to a new location; the board and batten houses were sold to people in the community; the Church of Christ building was sold to Johnson Baptist Church and is currently located on Highway 69. As early as 1928 the federal government built barracks, 20 feet wide and 18 feet long, houses for foremen and army personnel, and shops for the Civilian Conservation Corps program. Approximately 200-300 young men worked for the U. S. Forest Service from 8 am to 4 pm and were under Army command from 4 pm to 8 am. While under Army command, they wore Army issue uniforms. They planted trees, built roads and bridges, installed telephone lines, built metal observation towers, cut down unwanted timber, controlled ants and gophers, and built the Boykin Springs Recreation Area in Jasper County. About 1936, the camp was moved to the Jasper Highway, Highway 63, at the current location of Concord Church. Some of the Camp Nancy buildings were moved, some torn down, and some sold.