Peyton Colony, Texas
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Peyton Colony is in Blanco County about 8 miles east of Blanco.  From Blanco, follow Farm Road 165 to its intersection with Farm Road 2325.  Go an additional 0.3 miles on 165 from this intersection, and there will be a turn to the north to Paeton Colony.  There is a pink granite sign for the Mt. Horeb Baptist Church at this intersection.  Peyton Colony is about 0.5 miles north of this intersection.  Note that the sign for the road to the town spells the name of the town with an "a".  The correct spelling is with an "e" (Peyton).

Baker's book (the first one) shows two photos, one of which is an interior shot of the old school, and the other is an exterior shot of the school with a barbecue pit in the foreground.  Since Baker's visit in the early 1980s, the school, while still extant, has deteriorated further, and the barbecue pit area in the second photo is all but grown over.

 

The sign indicating the road to the town and showing the misspelling of the name.
 
The pink granite sign for the church

 

Baker's shot of the school interior from 1984.
 
 
Two shots of the school's interior from November 2004.  It is considerably more ratty and debris-strewn.

 

Baker's shot of the school with the barbecue pit in the foreground, from 1984.
 
The same scene in November 2004.  The barbecue pit area is considerably overgrown now.
 
Another shot of the exterior of the school from the same angle as Baker's photo, but without the barbecue pit in the foreground.

 

The still-operating Mt. Horeb Baptist Church.  There is an historical marker next to the church, but because the church was fully fenced in with a locked gate, I couldn't get near it.

 

 

On December 21, 2005, I received the following email from someone with a connection to the town:

Greetings – I enjoyed your photos of Peyton Colony (Boardhouse) in Blanco County, Texas.  I’d draw your attention to Brad Sitton’s new book, Freedom Colonies, which is a study of communities founded by freed slaves. I spent a good deal of time in Peyton, starting in my college years when I conducted an oral history project among the residents…I became close friends with several residents – all now deceased – and made frequent trips to the colony over a 20+ year period. (If you have any interest, those interviews, including the centennial service at Mt. Horeb, are on file at the University of Texas’ Center for American History.) Peyton, by the way, is the correct spelling. The county road sign is in error. The town is named for Peyton Roberts, the founding settler.