Shetland Ponies for Sale near Arp, TX

About Arp, TX

The area where the town of Arp now sits was occupied by Caddoan peoples in pre-Columbian periods and was a part of the Treaty of Bowles Village in 1836 that granted Smith and Cherokee counties along with parts of Rusk, Gregg and Van Zandt counties to the Texas Cherokee and twelve associated tribes. The Cherokee War of 1839 forced the Native Americans out. However, the area was again occupied by Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek Indians after 1845. The descendants of these people formed the Mount Tabor Indian Community and a number continue to reside in Smith and Rusk counties today. The settlement that would become Arp was called Bissa, from the Choctaw/Chickasaw word for blackberry, as early as the 1800s.