Long King Village

Long King's Village, the middle village of three such communities established by the Coushatta Indian tribe along the Trinity River in the first half of the 1800s, could appropriately be called the headquarters of the Coushattas in Texas. The village was at the junction of Tempe Creek and Long King Creek, about three miles north of the Trinity River in what is now Polk County. At this substantial village lived Long King, the chief above all other Coushatta chiefs. Trails radiated out from Long King's Village into the surrounding region, and the village was an important hub of activity in the Big Thicket in East Texas. The high ground on both sides of the Trinity River at the village site provided a short bottomland crossing for Long King's Trace through this area. Later the site where the trace crossed the Trinity was selected for the construction of the dam that formed what is now Lake Livingston.

Long King's Village was a prominent point of reference for settlers and surveyors locating land in what was later Polk County. The field notes for twenty-one land surveys in this area mention Long King's Village. In an advertisement in the Telegraph and Texas Register that ran from March 10 to March 17, 1838, William M. Logan mentioned a grant of land located near Long King's Coushatta village. In the September 20, 1838, edition of the Telegraph and TexasRegister, James Morgan ran an advertisement for a new town (Swartwout) near the Coushatta village of Chief Long King. One of the earliest maps showing the location of Long King's Village was a Liberty County map prepared by H. L. Upshur for the Republic of Texas in 1841 (at that time Polk County was a part of Liberty County). The location of this village is also shown on various maps prepared by the General Land Office in Austin. The last in this series of maps showing the continued existence of this village is a map certified by the General Land Office and dated 1856.