Water's Bluff

Water's Bluff is on Farm Road 757 a mile south of the Sabine River and two miles north of Starrville in extreme northeastern Smith County. It is east of Harris Creek and southwest of a nearby Seventh-day Adventist Camp. There was no school in the area in 1903, but one had been constructed by 1936. That year sixty-four black students attended the two-teacher elementary, and maps showed two churches, a cemetery, and a scattered collection of dwellings along dirt roads. By 1952 local students attended the Winona Independent School District. Maps for 1960 identified Water's Bluff as a settlement of approximately thirty homes. Two churches, a cemetery, a school building, and one business were also located there. A Seventh-day Adventist church had been constructed just northeast. Five years later, the area appeared much the same. By 1973, local residents had built a town hall or community center, and in 1981 Water's Bluff was still designated on maps as the site of a church.