Crockett: Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins statue

The life of Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins is commemorated by this statue in Crockett. The Texas blues legend was born in 1902 on a farm west of Crockett going toward Centerville, which is credited as his hometown. Hopkins is known to have played in joints along Crockett’s main avenue in the 1930s and ’40s, when it was known as “Camp Street.”

According to the Texas Historical Commission, Hopkins was the youngest of five children of Abe and Frances (Washington) Hopkins. Sam learned to play guitar from John Henry and Joel Hopkins, two of his older brothers, and began his musical career in Central Texas under the guidance of Texas Blues pioneers Alger “Texas” Alexander and Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Local artist Jim Jeffries sculpted the statue, which depicts Hopkins as he was famously known – wearing his signature hat and dark glasses, sitting in a simple chair and picking guitar. 

Nearby:

Camp Street Cafe & Store in Crockett, TX

Camp Street Cafe & Store (215 S 3rd St, Crockett, TX 75835 | (936) 544-8656) – This live music venue is housed in an old false-front tin building built in 1931. Lovelady rancher V.H. “Hoyt” Porter bought the property, which lay near Crockett’s depot, around 1930. He soon built a structure there on a strip dubbed “Camp Street” by the locals, because teamsters had often camped on the land with their wagons. In the days of segregation, it was the center of Crockett’s black business district. For the next four decades, the building housed various enterprises, including a café, a barbershop, and a pool hall. Legendary Texas bluesman Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins, Frankie Lee Sims and other musicians played there during the Forties. Hopkins would often sit in a cane-bottom chair and sing for the coins dropped into his hat.