First mapped in 1846 and 1849 by state surveyors John Lawler and Samuel Huffer, this trail may pre-date Mexican rule. Used as a military road and a cattle trail, it extended from Tyler in Smith County to Porter's Bluff in northwestern Navarro County. By 1870, the Memphis and El Paso Stage Line made twelve mail stops along that route, nine of them in Van Zandt County. Much of the old trail near Edom was included when State Highways 64 and 279, as well as local farm roads, were created. In 1997, vestiges of the Tyler-Porter's Bluff Road were still visible in some locations. (1997) Incise on base: Historian: Neill S. Hays