Crossroads

Nat, on Farm Road 343 fourteen miles northwest of Nacogdoches in Nacogdoches County, was first settled by Henry Brewer, who obtained a league of land in the area between 1814 and 1820. It was called Crossroads for its Crossroads Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which John Bone Paine, early settler and landowner, played a prominent role. In 1895 Nathan (Nat) Jarrell, who operated one of the four stores in the community, became the first postmaster, and the community was renamed Nat in his honor. That year the Nat school was also started. By 1897 the community reported a population of more than 1,700, with dairies, farms, and wood-related industries. In 1990 Nat had a population of twenty-five, an independent church, and a cemetery located at the original crossroads. The population remained the same in 2000.