Peach Point Plantation

Peach Point Plantation originally encompasses many square miles; today within these land boundaries are official Texas Historical Markers including the marker for Emily Margaret Austin Bryan Perry,[4] the marker for Stephen F. Austin, and, additionally, every marker found at Gulf Prairie Cemetery (which was sometimes referred to as Peach Point Cemetery).

Notable figures of the era visited the Austin, Perry, and the Bryan families at Peach Point plantation including Rutherford B. Hayes, Leonidas Polk, Thomas J. Pilgrim, and Gail Borden. Stephen F. Austin's original place of burial (before being moved to Austin, Texas), is located at or very near Peach Point Plantation, at the Gulf Prairie Cemetery.[5] Peach Point Plantation is referenced in another historic Marker as well.[6]

Peach Point Plantation was originally referred to as Perry's Landing, after its owner, James F. Perry.[7] The name selected, however, was Peach Point Plantation, in recognition of all the wild peaches growing in the vicinity at the time of its establishment.[8] The name Peach Point Plantation is sometimes shortened to "Peach Point."

James F. Perry and his wife Emily Austin Perry managed Peach Point Plantation. Stephen Samuel Perry also served in a managerial capacity at Peach Point Plantation.[9]

Peach Point was virtually destroyed in a variety of storms including hurricanes such as in 1909.[10] Much was restored and reconstructed.

With the birth of each of his children, Stephen Samuel Perry planted an oak tree on the property.[11] Though the Hurricane of 1900 and the Grand Isle Hurricane of 1909 destroyed many structures at the Plantation, two of these oak trees (quercus virginiana) still survive in the present era.[12]

The Mexican Government owned the league of land, then as empresario, Stephen F. Austin owned the land, and sold it to James Perry and Emily Austin Perry for $300.00.[13]

Parts of the land are still owned by direct descendants of the original owners.[14] Previous owners and/or partial owners include: Stephen Samuel Perry Jr. and Stephen F. Austin. Much is owned by a Justin Hurst wildlife Management Area.[15]

Two sources are particularly valuable in researching or learning about Peach Point Plantation: "Peach Point Plantation: The First 150 Years," by Marie Beth Jones; and the James F. and Stephen S. Perry Papers. Each includes original source materials regarding Peach Point Plantation.[16]

• Marie Beth Jones, Peach Point Plantation: The First 150 Years (Waco: Texian Press, 1982), ISBN 0-9630042-0-4.
• James Franklin and Stephen Samuel Perry Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. E. W. Winkler, ed.,
• "The Bryan-Hayes Correspondence," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 25 (October 1921-April 1922).
• Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28).
• David B. Gracy II, Moses Austin: His Life (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1987).