The "WhichWay" Tree

[Don Allen]

Just outside of Tomball, TX, near the Rosehill area, is New Kentucky park. In the park, there is an ancient oak tree that the locals refer to as the "WhichWay Tree", although it is not listed in any historic documents. I wonder if any of you have ever heard of it.

If the tree is what they claim it is, it is a living witness to the Texas Revolution and marks the exact spot where history took a literal and figurative turn.

The text below was taken from a paper done for one of the local school districts and does a good job in explaining the tree and the history of the surrounding property.

New Kentucky was a plantation owned by Abram Roberts, who was issued his
league of land by the Mexican government on March 24, 1831. Roberts was in Texas by the 1820’s and
was registered in Stephen F. Austin’s colony in 1829. When the Texas Revolution began in 1835, Abram
Roberts joined the cavalry company of William B. Travis and served in the campaign removing General
Cos from San Antonio. When he returned home, Roberts assisted Col. Fannin in recruiting men and
supplies in the Spring Creek community. During the confusion in Texas following the fall of the Alamo, as
the Texas government and army fled eastward, they both stopped at Roberts’ plantation, on mach 21, 1836
and April 16, 1836 respectively. The road from Washington-on-the- Brazos forked at New Kentucky. One
road led east to the Trinity and Sabine Rivers; the other led south to Harrisburg (on what is now east
Houston). When Sam Houston’s army stopped at New Kentucky about midday on April 16, 1836, Sam
Houston chose to take the road towards Harrisburg…which ended five days later at victory for the Texans
at San Jacinto. A gigantic oak tree in the southwest corner of the park has become known as the “which
way tree,” as its limbs pointed towards the Trinity River and Harrisburg while protecting Houston and his
men from the elements. An old well from which Houston probably drank can also still be seen at the park.
Once independence was won, Abram Roberts’ house was one of the polling places for the first election
held in the Republic of Texas in September 1837.

Please forgive the quality of the photo...I took it with my cell phone. I'll get a better one the next time I'm by that way.

[sloanrodgers]

The Which Way Tree story is probably just a myth based on the confusion of subordinate soldiers as to the
line of march of the Texas Army. General Houston was concerned with Mexican and political spies like James
Hazard Perry, so he apparently confided in few troops of lower rank. I don't know if there is a contemporary
(1836) source for the Which Way Tree, but two of Houston's biggest later critics, Col. Sidney Sherman and
Robert Coleman didn't mention it when deriding Houston. They both said that the important decision to take
the right road to Harrisburg was made the day before arriving at the fork. Sherman stated that Houston told
him to assure his regiment that the army would take the Harrisburg Road because Secretary of War Rusk had
had ordered him to do so, but I believe they came to a consensus on the best course of action.

[Don Allen]

You're probably right.

It is interesting though....I took my compass and the large branch is pointing directly at Harrisburg/San Jacinto. So, either the branch was pointing that way in 1836 and the locals sort of new that it pointed towards Harrisburg, or the tree has been groomed to look this way for many years. I know two separate families who've lived in the New Kentucky/Rosehill area for a long time, and they talk about the WhichWay Tree pointing like this for generations.

At the very least, the tree certainly does mark the physical spot where the fork in the road was, and it is fun to stand there at a very historic fork in history. About where I'm standing, while taking this photo is the well for the Roberts property, which was, according to the locals, near the old homestead house. So...one can use a vivid imagination to imagine Mr. Roberts standing about where I am, near his well, watching the approaching army from this same perspective, veering off to the left at the fork/tree. Call me nerdy, but I get a huge rush from standing in historic spots and getting sight lines, etc figured out.

[sloanrodgers]

There's no doubt that Houston's army arrived at the crossroads at Abram Roberts' plantation in the late
morning of the 16th, but what evidence is there that this is the so-called Whichway Tree? Has a known
tree expert dated this thing to at least 174 years old? In my opinion the belief that Mr. Roberts pointed
out the road to Harrisburg originates with Dr. Nicholas Labadie from the 1859 Texas Almanac, but there
might be some earlier sources. Dr. Labadie's version sounds very anecdotal to me and possibly politically
motivated in that Houston was returning to Texas. He stated that Mr. Roberts raised his hand and cried
out "That right hand road will carry you to Harrisburg just as straight as a compass" Perhaps I'm a nerd
too, but isn't this stating the obvious when one is riding east toward the rising sun, down a well-known
and frequently travelled Texas road? I also have some doubt that Mr. Roberts had the time to waste in
the roadside direction of the Texas Army. Roberts was a recruiter and possibly out doing his job at this
dire moment in Texas history.

[sloanrodgers]

Abram Roberts may not have been at the famous fork in the road, but his son was almost certainly there
on that day. Pvt. George H. Roberts was serving in the infantry company of Capt. John Bird as it marched
in the advance with Sherman's regiment behind the musicians. Why would Pvt. Roberts need his father or
anyone to point out the road to Harrisburg infront of his own residence with a regiment that knew where
it was going anyway? There are a lot of inconsistencies with this Texas legend.


The statement of John Iiams concerning George H. Roberts' service in the Texas Revolution.

tslarc.tsl.state.tx.us/repclaims/235/23500611.pdf

tslarc.tsl.state.tx.us/repclaims/235/23500612.pdf

[John Rich]

"The Which Way Tree"
by John Rich

Link: "The Which Way Tree"