Nacogdoches County Texas map
31.62° N · 94.62° W · County seat: Nacogdoches · 981 sq mi
Nacogdoches calls itself the oldest town in Texas, and the claim rests on this ground: a Caddo settlement, then a Spanish mission and a 1779 resettlement on the road between Mexico and Louisiana. The county keeps the name of the Nacogdoche people who lived here, and the old road through it is now SH-21.
Nacogdoches sits at the crossing of US-59 and SH-21 in the middle of the county. Garrison and Cushing are on the northern side, Chireno southeast on SH-21, and Lake Nacogdoches lies west of the city.
Where Nacogdoches County is
The county sits in deep East Texas, 21 miles north of Lufkin and 61 miles south of Longview in a straight line. Five counties touch it: Rusk to the north, Shelby northeast, San Augustine southeast, Angelina south and Cherokee west. The Angelina River runs along the southern line and the Attoyac Bayou along the eastern one, which is why so much of the county boundary is water rather than survey line.
It was one of the 23 original counties formed when the Republic of Texas converted the Mexican municipalities in 1836, and it has since been carved into a long list of other counties, Rusk among them. It takes its name from the town, and the town from the Nacogdoche, a Caddo group whose settlement stood here before any Spanish or Anglo arrival.
Cities and towns
| Place | Type | 2020 population |
|---|---|---|
| Nacogdoches | City (county seat) | 32,153 |
| Garrison | City | 789 |
| Cushing | City | 558 |
| Appleby | City | 550 |
| Chireno | City | 371 |
Roughly half the county's residents live in the city of Nacogdoches; the rest are spread across small towns and rural school districts. Appleby sits immediately northeast of the city on US-59, Garrison and Cushing are north on US-59 and SH-204, and Chireno is southeast on SH-21 in the direction of San Augustine.
Roads
- US-59 – the main north–south route, entering from Rusk County past Garrison, through Nacogdoches, and south to Lufkin. It is being rebuilt in stages as I-69.
- SH-21 – the diagonal that follows the old El Camino Real de los Tejas, northeast toward San Augustine and the Sabine River, southwest to Crockett and on toward Bryan and Austin.
- US-259 – leaves Nacogdoches to the northeast toward Henderson and Longview.
- SH-7 – east–west across the southern county, west to Crockett and east toward Center.
- SH-103 – west from Nacogdoches to Alto in Cherokee County.
- Loop 224 – the ring road around Nacogdoches carrying through traffic clear of the square.
There is no completed interstate in the county yet. The I-69 designation is being applied to US-59 section by section as it is upgraded.
The Old Stone Fort, the university and the lake
The Old Stone Fort is the building Nacogdoches is best known for. The original stone house was put up by Antonio Gil Y'Barbo around 1790 on the town plaza and served in turn as a trading post, a customs house, a courtroom and a headquarters during the short-lived revolts against Spanish and Mexican rule. It was torn down in 1902; a replica was built in the 1930s on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus and holds a museum today.
Stephen F. Austin State University opened in 1923 as a teachers college and is now the county's largest employer, with a forestry school that suits the country around it. The university joined the University of Texas System in 2023. Term time visibly changes the size of the city.
El Camino Real de los Tejas, the Spanish road linking the missions of East Texas to Mexico and to Natchitoches in Louisiana, passed through Nacogdoches; SH-21 traces its general line and the route is now a National Historic Trail. Lake Nacogdoches, built on Loco Bayou west of the city, supplies municipal water and takes most of the county's fishing and boating traffic; the Angelina River bottom on the southern line is the other place people go for water.