Looking up through the trees at Camp Ford
Josh and I decided to take a quick trip up to Tyler Texas this week so that we could get out of town for a couple of days and check out a place neither of us had been before. We left Austin at three in the morning and headed east. Despite my hopes for “bonding while driving”, Josh had to work late that night so I did most of the driving while Josh slept and I belted out the words to Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill (It’s the only album I know ALL the words to. Blame the 6th grade).
We arrived in Tyler around 7 a.m. and, unfortunately, most of the places we wanted to see did not open until 9 a.m. so we decided to visit the one place on our list that did not have a time restriction: Camp Ford
Camp Ford, Tyler Texas
It was a little odd to hear cars rushing by along the highway behind us as we entered the site of what used to be a confederate prison camp for Union soldiers during the Civil War, but as we walked into the beautiful Piney Woods, civilization seemed to fade away and it was easy to lose ourselves in musings of what camp life must have been like.
A narrow dirt path leads up to the only building standing in the woods. The camp itself has been gone for well over one hundred years, but due to the diary of one Lt. Col. J.B. Leake, a reporoduction of one of the typical prisoner cabins has been erected.
Prisoner Cabin, Camp Ford
The cabin itself was maybe 6′ x 6′. It was dark and musty and not a place I could imagine spending any length of time in without going crazy. After reading the descriptions of the prisoner’s lodgings, I decided that squatting in a musty cabin would have actually been considered a luxury. So many men were sent to Camp Ford that the area around it was deforested for an entire mile. Men who came after all the trees had been cut down were forced to erect shelters for themselves out of any scraps of brush they could find lying around.
View of the woods at Camp Ford
After reading the different informational panels erected aronud the camp, Josh and I stepped off trail a little and simply enjoyed the cool stillness of the morning as we wandered through the tall, beautiful trees.
View of the woods at Camp Ford
It was hard for us to imagine what the camp must have looked like – what the land must have looked like completely denuded of its natural growth. The property is now flanked by a busy highway and by gas stations and other modern buildings. However, the vegetation where we were standing had grown back lush and thick and, at the risk of sounding cheesy, it made this eco-monkey happy that despite the terrible things we Americans have done to each other in the past, there is always a chance for forgiveness, growth, and rebirth.
For more information on Camp Ford, check out the following websites:
Camp Ford Historical Association
Texas Beyond History – Camp Ford
