For entertainment, the settlers had house-raisings, log-rollings, square dances, speech-making, patriotic meetings celebrating some holiday, or gathering in some home and listening to some versatile fiddler. No picture shows, no automobile rides, no ball games. But they knew what the word “hospitality” meant. Every home was open to strangers, as they brought news from the outside world. There were no charges for spending the night. Once a year, the head of the house loaded his ox cart with produce and headed for Jefferson to market his goods. Jefferson was at that time one of the largest towns in the state. First Roads and Trails The old Cherokee Trace trail made by the Indians from Arkansas to Nacogdoches County was one of the first roads made through Upshur County. It came into the county near Simpsonville and crossed the southern border near East Mountain and forded the Sabine near where Longview’s city water plant stands now. Other early roads were the Red Rock Road which crossed the Sabine at a ferry near Big Sandy, and went east through what is now Gladewater, Longview, and on into Jefferson. Another old road went from Newsom, Camp County, through Coffeeville and on to Jefferson. It was over these roads that the people from North and West Texas went to Jefferson to trade. When the United States bought Louisiana from France in 1803, a dispute arose between the United States and Spain over the boundary line of new territory north and east of the Sabine River. They made it a “Neutral Ground,” not to be occupied by either country until satisfactory settlement could be made. This “Neutral Ground,” having no laws, was soon overrun by free-booters, desperados, and outlaws. Upshur County was probably occupied by these characters at that time. In 1824, the Republic of Mexico made a land grant to Hayden Edwards, and Upshur County was included in this grant. Edwards never settled very many people here and the grant was eventually taken from him, but there is a Hayden Edwards Survey in the county now. About the year 1835, the first land grants were made to settlers in this county. After the removal of the Cherokee Indians, in 1839, the country was settled almost over night, and in a few years all the free land was patented. According to Thrall’s history of Texas, John Cotton was the first white man to settle within the boundary of what is now Upshur, Camp, and Gregg Counties. These three counties were originally united and known as Upshur County. Isaac Moody was the second settler, and about 1838, O. T. Boulware opened a store and trading post on John Cotton’s farm. This was the first business enterprise in the county. Captain William Hart