Photo by Jim Epperson Cherokee and Smith County residents re-dedicated a Texas Historical marker in honor of the Burning Bush Colony Just south of Bullard in the early 1900s an enthusiastic congregation could be heard singing across the countryside. The were accompanied by brass, strings and piano.

Sometimes this congregation was looked at as bizarre by locals because they had so much passion to worship Jesus Christ, according to Jewel Payne Russell in a 1961 newspaper article. At worship services members of the church would run up and down the isle until they were so tired they would fall to the ground. And others spoke in tongues.

This congregation was the Burning Bush Society, which moved to Bullard in 1913. The Burning Bush Society was a tight-nit community and all of its members sold all of its possessions to honor God. All the money made in the Bullard community was to sustain the community.

This last Sunday, a group of Cherokee and Smith County residents gathered to rededicate a Texas Historical sight in honor of the Burning Bush Society on Flat Creek Ranch in southern Bullard.

Elmer and Elizabeth Marsh Ellis own most of the land where the Burning Bush Society lived, and they bought a new his- torical marker after the previous marker was lost or stolen.

The Burning Bush Society bought the Douglass Mansion and 375 members came to Bullard by train.

Dr. Jane Purtle, who spoke at the rededication, said that the Burning Bush Society was one of the most advanced communities in East Texas. The community had a water system, sewer, power plant and a sawmill.

The Burning Bush also had a cannery, where they would can fresh fruits like peaches. Bullard High School teacher Jan Berry used to sell peaches on the side of the road to help get by on her teacher pay.

One day she was approached by two old men, who wondered where the peaches came from. She told them that she picked the peaches from the old Burning Bush site.

"They were excited that someone even knew about the Burning Bush Society," Berry said.

She began asking the men questions about where things were on the property, like the Tabernacle and the cemetery. She drew everything on a paper sack and transposed it to a map.

Courtesy Map by Jan Berry This map was created after Jan Berry interviewed several people who knew of the Burning Bush Colony. "The cemetery is right where the softball field home plate is," she said.

Only six years after the Burning Bush Society was established in Bullard, the society was disbanded. They could not afford to eat and had to large coupons with the local mercantile owner J.L. Vandiver.

He sewed for $17,000 and won. Vandiver bought the land for $1,000 in 1919.