Old Palestine

Old Palestine was near the site of what is now Linwood on State Highway 21 eleven miles south of Rusk in southern Cherokee County. The community grew up around a church established on the Forest Hill Plantation before the Civil War. Henry and Helena Berryman, owners of the plantation, donated land for a church and school around 1846. The church was organized that year but was disbanded in 1852. Several other churches have since occupied the site. A school was also founded before the Civil War and continued to operate until 1900. With the rise of nearby Linwood, the community lost its separate identity, but in the early 1990s the church and cemetery still remained.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.