'Few Reminders Left in OnceThriving Milam Communities' by Clay Coppedge/Temple Daily Telegram

Few reminders left in once thriving Milam communities

by Clay Coppedge

Published: January 26, 2004

SHARP — We sometimes forget that the backroads of today were often yesterday’s

crossroads of Central Texas commerce.

Good blackland dirt and generally reliable and abundant — sometimes too abundant —

sources of water drew people here. A Baylor archaeologist once called Central Texas

“the cradle of the red man” because of the area’s long history of inhabitation.

The same qualities that drew native people here drew the first European settlers,

though not all the communities founded bustled their way into the 20th Century. The

decline of cotton as a local agricultural commodity, the Depression, railroad

construction and the location of major highways were common factors in these towns’

demises, though each faded in its own way.

On FM 487 in Milam County, you pass a series of once-thriving communities now marked by

a reduced speed limit, a historical marker or sometimes nothing at all.

That’s not the case in Sharp, where the store built by Civil War veteran Daniel J.

Davis was operated by his family until 1985.

In its heyday, Davis’ General Store was the main outlet for local produce and offered

banking services, public scales and water served from a barrel on the porch.

The origins of the town are traced back to the years immediately following the Civil

War. Sharp was named in honor of Dr. William F. Sharp, a physician in Davilla.

If you ever wondered what the people who settled this sometimes harsh and foreboding

land had in mind, a trip down FM 487 past Valhalla Farms might give you a glimpse of

what the pioneers’ grandest dreams might have looked like.

Valhalla Farms is a multi-million dollar racehorse training and breeding facility. The

land dips and lifts in gentle swells of perfectly manicured pasture.

There is water, stables and outbuildings, all of a uniform color. This is what

civilization might have looked like in their dreams, but the road to those dreams was a

long and winding road.

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Clay Coppedge
and the
Temple Daily Telegram