Bath ( See Possum Walk) (Not to be confused with Old Carolina to the North which was once called Bath)

Bath, originally called Possum Walk, was a community on Farm Road 1374 eight miles west of Interstate Highway 45 in southwestern Walker County. The Union Hill Baptist Church was established there in 1872. The Possum Walk community changed its name to Bath when its post office was established in 1887; James H. Bell served as the first postmaster. Bath reported twenty-five residents in 1892 and forty in 1896. The Union Hill church building served as both a place of worship and a schoolhouse until a separate facility for the school was provided in 1899. Around 1900 two cotton gins, a gristmill, and a sawmill operated at Bath. The post office closed in 1905. In 1911 the community still had its school, which had seven grades, and the church. As late as 1936 Bath persisted as a community of scattered farm dwellings clustered around the school and church. By the early 1990s only the Union Hill Baptist Church and a cemetery remained.TSHA

Bath is a historical ghost town in Walker County, Texas, that no longer exists as a recognized community. It originated as a rural settlement known as Possum Walk and is not incorporated, with no current post office.

Location:
Southwestern Walker County, on Farm-to-Market Road 1374, about 8 miles west of Interstate 45 and south of Huntsville (the county seat). Coordinates: approximately 30.5944°N, 95.6236°W. It appears on the New Waverly U.S. Geological Survey Map.

History:
Established in the early 1870s as Possum Walk, with the Union Hill Baptist Church founded in 1872, which initially served as both a church and schoolhouse. The name changed to Bath in 1887 upon the establishment of its post office, with James H. Bell as the first postmaster; subsequent postmasters included Augustus G. Durham (1897), Elisha Day (1899), Charles B. Dixon (1901), and John B. Osburn (1903).  Population reached 25 in 1892 and 40 by 1896.  Around 1900, the economy included two cotton gins, a gristmill, and a sawmill.  A separate school building was constructed in 1899, offering seven grades by 1911. The post office closed on November 15, 1905, with mail rerouted to Huntsville.

Current Status:
Bath is a ghost town with a population of 0 and no remaining infrastructure beyond the Union Hill Baptist Church and the Bath Community Cemetery (also known as Union Hill Cemetery).
By the 1930s, it consisted of scattered farms, and by the 1990s, only the church and cemetery persisted.
Nearby unincorporated communities include New Waverly (several miles south) and other rural areas.

(Note: There is a separate historical site known as Old Bath or Carolina in northeastern Walker County, but it is distinct from this Bath.)


Texas State Historical Association
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/bath-tx

Texas Almanac
https://www.texasalmanac.com/places/bath-0

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Texas

Texas Escapes
http://www.texasescapes.com/EastTexasTowns/Bath-Texas.htm

Find a Grave
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/410547/bath-community-cemetery