Lightnin' Hopkins Built His First Guitar Out of a Cigar Box Here RoadyGoat

One of the most influential bluesmen in American history started life right here. Sam Hopkins, who the world would come to know as Lightnin', was born in Centerville in 1911 or 1912, the youngest child of Abe and Frances Hopkins, on a hardscrabble farm in the Leon County countryside. When his father died around 1915 the family moved a short way south to Leona, but the music was already in him. By eight he had built himself a working guitar out of a cigar box strung with chicken wire, and by ten he was playing alongside his cousin Texas Alexander and the towering Blind Lemon Jefferson, who told the boy to keep at it. He did, eventually recording for nearly twenty labels, picking up the name Lightnin' at a 1946 Los Angeles session, and later playing Carnegie Hall and opening for the Grateful Dead during the folk-blues revival. When he died in Houston in 1982, more than four thousand people came to the funeral. The country backroads around Centerville are where that restless, talking-blues guitar style first took shape. (Source: Handbook of Texas; Blues Foundation.)

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The Stockade Fort That Held This Frontier RoadyGoat

A few miles south of where you are now, in the spring of 1840, Tennessee and Mississippi families pushed into the wedge of land between the Navasota and Trinity rivers, the first settlement north of the Old San Antonio Road. After C.C. Staley was killed early that year, the Byrns and Erwin settlers threw up a palisade fort, a square of upright logs roughly seventy-five yards on a side, enclosing two blockhouses and eleven cabins. Because the ground nearby was low and boggy, the place became Fort Boggy, named for the soggy creek bottom rather than any man. By the end of 1840 around seventy-five people sheltered inside. Republic of Texas President Mirabeau Lamar authorized a company of Rangers under Captain Thomas Greer to defend it, but Greer was killed in 1841 while scouting Keechi Creek. Sickness and continued raids thinned the families out, and once the danger eased the fort fell to ruin. Today the ground is the centerpiece of Fort Boggy State Park, quiet woods where a desperate little stockade once kept this corner of Texas alive. (Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife; Handbook of Texas.)

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Woody's Smokehouse and the Jerky Capital of I-45 RoadyGoat

If you've ever driven I-45 between Houston and Dallas, you've almost certainly seen the signs for Woody's Smokehouse, and the big northbound store sits at 947 West St. Mary's Street in Centerville. The whole operation traces back to Dudley Woody Wood, a Houston Kroger meat cutter who moved to Centerville in 1975. He'd picked up smoking technique on an Arkansas fishing trip after stumbling onto a place called Coy's Smokehouse, and back home he opened a grocery and a smokehouse, processing venison for deer hunters. When I-45 opened up the country to traffic, Wood saw the future and moved his business right onto the interstate, first into a gas station around 1978 on the southbound side, then expanding to the large northbound location near the Texas 7 exit. Generations of road-trippers have pulled off here for smoked sausage, barbecue, and above all jerky, so much jerky that the place bills itself as the Jerky Capital of the World. It's the rare interstate pit stop that's a genuine local institution. Pull in hungry. (Source: Woody's Smokehouse; The Eagle.)

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Hopkins, Sam [Lightnin']

1911

Sam (Lightnin') Hopkins, blues singer and guitarist, was born in Centerville, Texas, on March 15, probably in 1911. Though some sources give his year of birth as 1912, his Social Security application listed the year as 1911. He was the son of Abe and Frances (Sims) Hopkins. After his father died in 1915, the family (Sam, his mother and five brothers and sisters) moved to Leona. At age eight he made his first instrument, a cigar-box guitar with chicken-wire strings. By ten he was playing music with his cousin, Texas Alexander, and Blind Lemon Jefferson , who encouraged him to continue. Hopkins also played with his brothers, blues musicians John Henry and Joel. By the mid-1920s Sam had started jumping trains, shooting dice, and playing the blues anywhere he could. Apparently he married Elamer Lacey sometime in the 1920s, and they had several children, but by the mid-1930s Lacey, frustrated by his wandering lifestyle, took the children and left Hopkins. He served time at the Houston County Prison Farm in the mid-1930s, and after his release he returned to the blues-club circuit. In 1946 he had his big break and first studio session-in Los Angeles for Aladdin Recordings. On the record was a piano player named Wilson (Thunder) Smith; by chance he combined well with Sam to give him his nickname, Lightnin'. The album has been described as "downbeat solo blues" characteristic of Hopkins's style. Aladdin was so impressed with Hopkins that the company invited him back for a second session in 1947. He eventually made forty-three recordings for the label. Over his career Hopkins recorded for nearly twenty different labels, including Gold Star Records in Houston. On occasion he would record for one label while under contract to another. In 1950 he settled in Houston, but he continued to tour the country periodically. Though he recorded prolifically between 1946 and 1954, his records for the most part were not big outside the Black community. It was not until 1959, when Hopkins began working with legendary producer Sam Charters, that his music began to reach a mainstream White audience. Hopkins switched to an acoustic guitar and became a hit in the folk -blues revival of the 1960s. During the early 1960s he played at Carnegie Hall with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and in 1964 toured with the American Folk Blues Festival. By the end of the decade he was opening for such rock bands as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. During a tour of Europe in the 1970s, he played for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance. Hopkins also performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In 1972 he worked on the soundtrack to the film Sounder . He was also the subject of a documentary, The Blues According to Lightnin' Hopkins, which won the prize at the Chicago Film Festival for outstanding documentary in 1970. Some of his biggest hits included "Short Haired Women / Big Mama Jump!" (1947); "Shotgun Blues," which went to Number 5 on the Billboard charts in 1950; and "Penitentiary Blues" (1959). His albums included The Complete Prestige /Bluesville Recordings , The Complete Aladdin Recordings , and the Gold Star Sessions (two volumes). Hopkins recorded a total of more than eighty-five albums and toured around the world. But after a 1970 car crash, many of the concerts he performed were on his front porch or at a bar near his house. He had a knack for writing songs impromptu, and frequently wove legends around a core of truth. His often autobiographical songs made him a spokesman for the southern Black community that had no voice in the White mainstream until blues attained a broader popularity through White singers like Elvis Presley. In 1980 Lightnin' Hopkins was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. Hopkins died of cancer of the esophagus on January 30, 1982, in Houston. He was survived by his caretaker, Antoinette Charles, and four children. His funeral was attended by more than 4,000, including fans and musicians. He was buried in

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Centerville - Birthplace of Lightnin' Hopkins

1912

Centerville, Texas was the birthplace of Sam 'Lightnin'' Hopkins, one of the greatest and most prolific blues guitarists in history, who brought Texas country blues to a worldwide audience.

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Middleton, William B.

1842

William B. Middleton, pioneer, sheriff, and legislator, was born on August 4, 1819, in Crawford County, Illinois. In 1837 his father moved the family to Texas, and they settled in Leon County. The family and eleven other families built the settlement known as Fort Boggy where they lived for two years. President Sam Houston ordered the men to organize a ranging company to protect the settlement against Indian raids. In 1842 General Adrian Woll and a force of Mexican troops invaded Texas. Middleton answered the call from President Sam Houston to join the army, and he and his brothers were assigned to a Captain Wilson's company. He joined the ill-fated Mier Expedition and was one of the participants in the Black Bean Episode . Middleton and his brother drew a white bean that allowed them to live, although his brother later died in prison in Mexico City. Middleton was imprisoned in Mexico for two years. After his return to Texas, he married Mary Jane Potts in December 1845. He was elected sheriff of Leon County in 1846. During the Mexican War , Middleton served as a lieutenant in James Gillaspie 's company of the First Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers and returned to Leon County after mustering out. He was elected sheriff twice more. In 1855 and again in 1859 he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. William Middleton died on March 17, 1877. He is buried in Makamson Cemetery in Leon County.

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Whaley, David M.

1862

David M. Whaley, druggist and Confederate infantry officer, was born in 1822 in Pennsylvania. He was the son of James Whaley. He trained to be a doctor and moved to Leon County, Texas, in 1853. He worked as a druggist, and, as a strong advocate for health on the frontier, he dispensed medicines and attended to the ill. He was a state senator in the Eighth Legislature representing the Twenty-first District including parts of Brazos, Burleson, Leon, and Robertson counties. During the Civil War , he was the captain of Company C in the Fifth Texas Infantry . Whaley was promoted to major on July 17, 1862. Whaley died on August 22, 1862, at the battle of Freeman's Ford in Virginia. This series of skirmishes took place from August 22 to August 25 in and around Culpeper County and Fauquier County. The area was laden with corn, and the Union and the Confederate sides took advantage of this readily available foodstuff, each sending out a corn gatherer. In the process of corn gathering, the two met each other in the middle and promptly began to pummel one another. Each side became aware of the fisticuffs, and shooting began. The Fifth Texas Infantry was especially vulnerable due to the extra long staff upon which they carried their Texas Lone Star flag. The flag caught the eye of the Federal troops, and a fired artillery shell struck Whaley's area killing him instantly. One other man died, and four others were wounded. Whaley was buried near where he fell.

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Fort Boggy

1840

Pioneers who settled in this area bout 1840 included members of the Middleton, Byrns, Staley, Erwin, Jones, Capp, Bloodworth, Philpott, Easton, Howell, and Hinton families. Nearby Kichai and Kickapoo Indian camps afforded these early settlers little sense of security. On February 5, 1840, Christopher C. Staley was ambushed and killed by a group of Indians while out hunting near his home. This incident led to the building of Fort Boggy for the protection and safety of the settlers. Named for its proximity to Boggy Creek, the fort consisted of two blockhouses with eleven dwellings inside an area of about 5000 square feet. A military company, authorized by Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, was formed under the leadership of Capt. Thomas Greer to protect the fort. According to one account, 77 people moved into the fort upon its completion. Illness proved to be a major problem for them. In 1841, while leading a scouting party beyond the fort, Captain Greer was killed in an Indian attack. Soon after, the threat of raids lessened, and the need for Fort Boggy no longer was vital. For many years, however, a community church and school retained the name "Boggy." As an early aid in the settlement of this area, Fort Boggy remains significant to the history of Leon County.

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Leon County Courthouse

1887

Built 1887 of slate brick, locally made. One of oldest Texas courthouses still in its original state. County created in 1846. County seat was moved from Leona to Centerville in 1850. Two earlier courthouses have occupied this site. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966

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Centerville, Texas

Music in Centerville

Songs About Centerville

Artists From Centerville

Rivers & Roads in Song near Centerville

History of Centerville

Lightnin' Hopkins Built His First Guitar Out of a Cigar Box Here RoadyGoat

The Stockade Fort That Held This Frontier RoadyGoat

Woody's Smokehouse and the Jerky Capital of I-45 RoadyGoat

Hopkins, Sam [Lightnin']

Centerville - Birthplace of Lightnin' Hopkins

Middleton, William B.

Whaley, David M.

Fort Boggy

Leon County Courthouse

Things to Do in Centerville

Everything Near Centerville