Dew

DEW, TEXAS . Dew is at the junction of State Highway 75 and Farm Road 489, nine miles south of Fairfield in southern Freestone County. The area, originally known as Avant or Avant Prairie, was first settled in the 1850s by pioneers from Alabama. In 1870 the settlement's name was changed to Sunshine after the Sunshine Methodist Church moved there from Harrison Chapel. The town was renamed Dew in 1885, when a post office was established there. Locals requested the name Drew to honor a resident, but postal authorities misread the application. By 1891 Dew had three cotton gins, three general stores, a blacksmith, several churches, and a population of 150. Its post office was replaced with rural delivery in 1909. In 1947 the community had five stores, a school, and 195 inhabitants. By 1992 Dew had a reported population of seventy-one. Around 1912 a cemetery association was organized, and descendants and area residents still gather annually at the Dew cemetery. A historical marker was placed at the graveyard in 1977.