Bullock Museum to host free program about North Texas archaeological site that played vital role in the Chisholm Trail

MAY 1, 2025 (AUSTIN, TX) — The Bullock Museum is hosting a free High Noon Talk on Wednesday, May 7 at 12 p.m. that sheds light on the Bolivar Archeological Project excavation of the remnants of a frontier town along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas, including a blacksmith shop owned by freedman Tom Cook. Artifacts from Tom Cook’s Blacksmith Shop are currently on view at the Bullock Museum.

“​​The Bolivar Project brings together multiple narratives that spotlight how Texas was changing in the 1870s and 1880s. It shows the intersection of freedmen as business owners, the growing cattle industry, and the establishment of towns in northern Texas,” said Kathryn Siefker, Senior Curator at the Bullock Museum. “We are excited to highlight how TxDOT and Cook’s descendants are working together to preserve and share Bolivar’s story with all Texans.”

While widening Farm-to-Market 455 in Denton County during the winter of 2020-2021, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) discovered and evaluated numerous archaeological sites, including the Bolivar archaeological site. TxDOT, in collaboration with an archaeological team from Stantec, Inc. and with support from the North Texas Archeological Society (NTAS), engaged with local stakeholders, including descendants, residents, researchers, and professional blacksmiths, as well as the Denton County African American community, to develop a comprehensive approach to the project. The Bolivar Archeological Project focused on key sites in Bolivar, a small town in western Denton County that once played a role in the bustling trade of the late 19th-century Chisholm Trail, including Tom Cook’s Blacksmith Shop.

At the High Noon Talk on May 7, visitors will learn about the findings from the Bolivar archaeological site by joining a panel of TxDOT, University of Texas, Stantec, Inc. archaeologists, descendants of Tom Cook and Bullock curator Kathryn Siefker. The Bullock’s monthly High Noon Talk programs seek to tell interesting, and often untold, stories of Texas in a casual lunchtime lecture setting. At the May 7 program, the panel will speak about this groundbreaking project, the fascinating discoveries made and how the past is being brought to life through community collaboration and archaeology. Prior to and following the program, the archaeologists and Tom Cook descendants will share additional artifacts from the Bolivar site and will be available to answer questions and tell visitors more about the project.

The Tom Cook site is the only documented blacksmith shop in Texas associated with a formerly enslaved man. Cook initially worked for a blacksmith in Bolivar named James Barwis, and in 1882 he purchased Barwis’ shop and began operating his own business. Over time, he became a landowner, farmer, minister, Prince Hall Freemason and community leader. The discoveries and history uncovered at Tom Cook’s Blacksmith Shop through this project are especially important because only a handful of blacksmith shops have been identified as archaeological sites, and even fewer have been investigated in Texas. 

Artifacts recovered from the site are now on view in the Bullock Museum’s second floor Texas History Galleries. Items include blacksmithing tools like knives, files and tongs. Additionally, there are farrier items for working on horses, broken wagon parts and basic farming tools that indicate that Cook did business with local farmers and ranchers as well as traveling cowboys along the Chisholm Trail. These artifacts from the site help paint a picture of Tom Cook’s thriving Black-owned business in the late 1800s North Texas frontier. 

High Noon Talk: Uncovered History - Bolivar Archeological Project will take place in the Bullock Museum’s Texas Spirit Theater on May 7 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The program is free to the public. For more information, including about the Tom Cook’s Blacksmith Shop artifacts on view at the Bullock Museum, visit TheStoryofTexas.com.

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Tom Cook artifacts courtesy of the Texas Department of Transportation.

The Bullock Museum, a division of the Texas State Preservation Board, is funded by Museum members, donors, and patrons, the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and the State of Texas.

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​​The Bullock Texas State History Museum, a division of the State Preservation Board and an accredited institution of the American Alliance of Museums, creates experiences that educate, engage, and encourage a deeper understanding of Texas. With dynamic, award-winning exhibitions that illuminate Texas history, people, and culture, educational programming for all ages, and an IMAX® theater with a screen the size of Texas, the Museum collaborates with more than 700 museums, libraries, archives, organizations, and individuals across the world to bring the Story of Texas to life. For more information, visit www.TheStoryofTexas.com