Forest Hill

Forest Hill is on State Highway 37 three miles northeast of Quitman in north central Wood County. The area was probably settled as early as 1860. Local lore has it that in its early days the Forest Hill school was also known as Ratscuffle, after the many large rats that roamed the schoolhouse during Saturday night spelling bees. During the 1930s the community had a number of dwellings, a schoolhouse, a Baptist church, and at least one business. In 1949 Morris Coats discovered the Coats oilfield just to the south of Forest Hill, but this apparently had no lasting effect on the community. By 1980 Forest Hill had gained a second church, and county highway maps for the late 1980s show a church and a business at the site. In 2000 the population was thirty.