"Vine Grove: The little church of Live Oak Community" By Thelma Smith

   Whether the name Grapevine Church, Home Mission Society, or Vine Grove Christian Church is used, one is still referring to a little church that once was or still exists in Live Oak Community, Matagorda County.

Karankawas probably had early campground near Live Oak Bayou

   Liveoak (Live Oak) Community is near Live Oak Bayou and FM 2540, 10 miles southeast of Bay City in southeastern Matagorda County.

"Stone’s ‘Black Cowboys of Matagorda County’ Black History Month exhibit" by: Jessica Shepard

   “Cowboys in Black Skin” is the theme of Donnye Stone’s annual Black History Month exhibit in the lobby of the Matagorda County Museum for February.      Stone’s exhibit includes names of several famous cowboys and Matagorda County cowboys.

Linnie Roberts 1st, only school dedicated to educating black children

I. CONTEXT    Education for African American children before the Civil War was sporadic at best, depending on whether the slave owner allowed the education of the children or whether a literate slave was able to teach the children to read.

Mount Pilgram Missionary: On Caney, before recorded history

   The story of the Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church membership began prior to the earliest recorded history – on the bank of Caney Creek, during a journey through slavery.     During the earliest period slaves who could, gathered to worship in their quarters or under trees.

Van Dorn was 1st elected sheriff of Matagorda County

   Isaac Van Dorn (Vandorn), one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, was born in Pennsylvania about 1801.     At the age of fourteen he was indentured to a farmer for seven years, whom he eventually left.

Remembering when weather affected all

   EDITOR’S NOTE: Given the regular schedule of at least some rainfall, it’s interesting to note that wet weather has long been on Matagorda County residents’ minds.

"Getting Matagorda County out of mud" Compiled By Marin Brown McAllister Junior Historian 1973-74

   “Get a Horse!” was the half-serious jest for residents of Matagorda County in the early 1920s, when the motor car was fast becoming the most sought-after means of transportation.

1939: Coca Cola high in pure value contents

   Palacios Beacon, Oct. 19, 1939    The Coca Cola Bottling Company in Bay City on Highway No. 35 was built in 1934 and serves the entire coast line area from Freeport through Palacios reaching inland from 30 to 50 miles.

Bay City’s Coca Cola plant grand addition in 1934

   EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story on the former Coca-Cola bottling plant was taken from the Matagorda County History and Genealogy Page.     At the corner of Avenue A and Texas 35, the building now is mostly shrouded by overgrown trees and plants.