Mount Pisgah

Mount Pisgah was a rural community at the intersection of Farm Road 49 and several soil-surfaced roads, two miles west of Pine Mills and nine miles southeast of Quitman in southeastern Wood County. A Texas Historical Commission marker for Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, which went through several name and location changes, has been placed at its final site in Mount Pisgah. The church was founded in 1853 in the neighboring community of Holly Springs as the Holly Springs Baptist Church of Christ, then moved to nearby Liberty Hill (now Pine Mills) before reaching the Mount Pisgah community by 1860; by that year church members had constructed a one-room sanctuary at Mount Pisgah. The church was renamed the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in 1865 or 1866 and remained in the 1860 structure until the 1930s, when it was remodeled. By 1888 George Lindley and Joe Shields were operating the Lindley-Shields sawmill at or near Mount Pisgah. In 1884 the Mount Pisgah school district was established; by 1896 it served ninety-five White students. In 1905, 125 students were taught by three teachers. During the 1930s the community had a number of dwellings, a church, a cemetery, and a school. In 1932 the school had an enrollment of 135 White students in ten grades, and a gravel pit was near the community. Mount Pisgah by 1960 had a church, two cemeteries, and a few widely scattered dwellings along Farm Road 49. In 1988 all that remained at the site was the church and cemetery.