Q: Was Lonesome Dove, Texas, a real place?
V.F., Texas
A: Texas native Larry McMurtry named his fictional Texas border town while visiting Fort Worth, Texas. He saw the church van for Lonesome Dove Baptist Church drive by, and thought it would be a great name.
Lonesome Dove, located in Southlake, is the oldest church in Tarrant County. It was founded in 1846 and has about 100 members today, according to Pastor Coy Quesenbury.
Quesenbury said the best guess for the name was that members heard a dove call during the first service. "According to a legend, one of the ladies said, 'Listen to that lonesome dove,'" he said.
Another theory is that the Baptist church was the "lonesome dove" in the West as of 1846. "There was not another non-Catholic church from here to the Pacific Ocean," Quesenbury said.
Previous Questions: