For the eighth year in a row, the Liberty County Historical Commission has earned a Distinguished Service Award for its efforts in local historical preservation. Liberty County is one of 79 Texas counties to receive the distinction.
“The Distinguished Service Award is an award given by the Texas Historical Commission to county historical commissions for outstanding service. It’s based on the annual reports that are submitted in January by counties that show the work we are doing. The counties that score highly are recognized,” said Linda Jamison, chairperson for the Liberty County Historical Commission.
Jamison credits the work of LCHC volunteers for the honor.
“We are all volunteer. We do it for the love of history. It’s the only recognition we get and it’s always an honor,” she said.
The local historical commission has focused much of its work to saving and restoring old cemeteries.
“The work on our historic cemeteries is always on our front burner,” Jamison said.
Each month, the Commission hosts educational programs with speakers sharing information on various topics of history.
“We also had the Chisholm Trail display that was set up in the lobby of First Liberty National Bank last year. We also have a youth project where we go into local schools and teach local history to seventh-graders. We explain who came to Liberty County, why they were here and how they settled in the area,” Jamison said.
The Commission also has a marker program to apply for state historical markers or to award a county commission marker.
“We apply for the state historical markers but there are pockets of history that are important to people in Liberty County that might not be so important to people in the state. In those situations, we award a county commission marker,” Jamison said.
According to Jamison, the LCHC will be recognized at a future Liberty County Commissioners Court meeting. Due to COVID-19, traditional, in-person meetings are not being held by the commissioners at this time.
Other counties earning this distinction are Aransas, Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bell, Brazos, Brown, Burnet, Cameron, Carson, Cass, Chambers, Cherokee, Collin, Comal, Deaf Smith, DeWitt, Dickens, El Paso, Erath, Fannin, Fayette, Fort Bend, Franklin, Garza, Harris, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Houston, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jim Hogg, Kaufmann, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Limestone, Live Oak, Lubbock, Marion, Mason, Matagorda, Medina, Menard, Milam, Mills, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Nueces, Palo Pinto, Pecos, Polk, Randall, Rusk, Sabine, San Saba, Scurry, Tarrant, Taylor, Tom Green, Travis, Tyler, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Wheeler, Wilson, Wise and Wood.