Oct 11-12, 2015
Flight: Dallas to Austin; American Airlines economy
Distance driven: 325 miles
Counties visited: Cass, Marion, Morris, Camp, Titus, Franklin, Hopkins, Delta, Hunt, Rockwall
Today was a crazy day, with planned stops in 10 counties as I drove back to Dallas. I also thought about getting a very early start and driving to Texarkana. Arkanasas is the only state I don't remember visiting (I was 1 yr old) and the main post office/federal courthouse is the only building shared between two states! I couldn't pass on that opportunity.
New Boston, BOWIE County
I stopped by the ugly courthouse this morning. The ugly modern building was built in 1985. Outside was a statue of James Bowie (of Alamo fame, and correcly pronounced Boo-wee not Boh-wee), co-dedicated by then-governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton. I drove straight into the rising sun and arrived in Texarkana just before 8AM.
Texarkana Federal Building/Post Office.
Linden, CASS County
Linden was the next county seat to visit. It took about an hour to drive from Texarkana, after taking a wrong turn towards Louisiana! Sunday morning in a Texas small town so nothing was open. The courthouse here is the oldest courthouse still in use, built in 1861, though remodeled since then.
Jefferson, MARION County
I continued along to Jefferson which was a quick 20 minute drive. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by Jefferson. I hadn't done really any research for this trip other than where the courthouses were located. Turns out Jefferson used to be an old steamship port and one of the wealthiest towns in Texas before the railroads came. The Red River used to have a huge 'raft' of dead trees that formed a dam and lake deep enough to navigate this far inland. Once the barrage was dynamited and the railroads passed it by, the town fell into obscurity. It's since found a renaissance as a tourist town though. There were lots of bikers here in town. The museum also was a surprise in the gorgeous old Federal courthouse building. Only spent about 40 minutes in town and definitely worth a revisit!
Daingerfield, MORRIS County
Daingerfield was a 40-minute drive away. I passed right by the courthouse at first as it was a new modern building that looks more like a warehouse! I went into town to see if I could find the original courthouse. The town was pretty tiny, just a few blocks wide. There was an old school theater here. The town has some notoriety... there was a mass shooting in 1980, in a church no less, where 5 people were killed by a former schoolteacher.
Pittsburg, CAMP County
Pittsburg (no h) was the next town to visit, another 20 minutes drive from Daingerfield. This town seemed to be a bit more successful. The local sports team was not surprising the 'Pittsburg Pirates'. The town used to be the headquarters for Pilgrims Pride chicken. I passed by their factory as I was heading north out of town.
Mt. Pleasant, TITUS County
Mt. Pleasant was the biggest town I'd been in since Texarkana. I was getting hungry by this point but the few places I checked were closed on Sundays. The courthouse here was similar to the one in Fannin county, a plain grey boxy building.
Mt. Vernon, FRANKLIN County
Took US67 to Mt. Vernon, seat of Franklin county. There was a gorgeous stretch just outside of Mt. Pleasant with fields of flowers. The 1912 courthouse here was quite pretty. Still no real options here for eating. There was the usual McD's on the interstate but I was wanting to keep to US67 as far as I could.
Sulphur Springs, HOPKINS County
Reached Sulphur Springs about 1PM. The courthouse here was absolutely gorgeous, built of red and pink granite and sandstone in Richardson Romanesque style. The architect was James Reily Gordon, the same one who had designed La Grange courthouse. Unlike most other Texas towns, the courthouse was at the corner of the main square vs in the center. There was a cajun restaurant across the street where I grabbed a bowl of spicy gumbo for lunch. There were also some 'see-through' bathrooms located on the main square. Mirrored on the outside so you (supposedly) can't see in. I just had to try it!
From Sulphur Springs I had two options.. Cooper was the next county seat, but I had done some more research and realized I'd missed the Eiffel tower replica when I was in Paris yesterday... 'only' a 40-mile detour back to Paris. The replica had a cowboy hat on top of it, so how could I pass that up? Took about 35 minutes for the drive back up to Paris, then another 20 minutes to Cooper.
Deja Vu, Paris, Texas, Y'All
Cooper, DELTA County
Cooper was another sleepy town, nothing going on at all on the main square. The courthouse was a block or two west of the square and was also fairly plain, built in 1941.
Greenville, HUNT County
On the way from Cooper I passed through Commerce, TX where I picked up an ice cream from Sonic. The towns were getting bigger the closer I got to Dallas. Greenville was the next town over. The current courthouse from 1928 was the 7th courthouse to be built! The others had either moved, burned down, or were demolished.
Rockwall, ROCKWALL County
My last courthouse stop! Rockwall is the smallest county in Texas. The old historic courthouse was built in 1940 but is already too small due to growth, the new courthouse (2011) is a massive domed building not far off of I-30.
Texas State Fair
Fried PeanutButter&Jelly sandwich
Somehow I still had energy left, and still had a few hours of daylight left (it was about 4:30PM as I left Rockwall), so I decided to go to the Texas State Fair in Dallas. It was pretty warm, 95 degrees even after 5PM as I reached the fairgrounds. The state fair was a crazy mess, totally packed but tons of stuff to see and do. They were passing out free pudding at one of the entrances. I wandered up to the Cotton Bowl in search of the Big Tex statue. Kept wandering around until I found the main stage where the Beach Boys were playing. I was roasting in the heat so found some shade before going off to try some of the 'food'. Basically think of anything and they will deep fry it. PeanutButter&Jelly sandwich, Lobster tails, Pecan pie, Lemonade, etc. I tried the PB&J, it was a carb-fest but quite good... the peanut butter was melted and gooey.
I took the skytram back across the midway to avoid the crowds. It broke down while I was up there and we sat for 10 minutes or so before it started again! I headed to the exits to get ahead of the exodus before the fair closed that evening. Managed to find my car in the huge parking lot (I'd gps tagged it on my phone!).
I don't know how I still had energy, but I then went to Hard Rock cafe in downtown to get a shirt. My flight didn't leave til very early the next morning but I wasn't sure about getting a hotel or not. Ended up sleeping in the car for a bit before driving to the airport about 1AM and sleeping in the car some more before catching my 6AM flight! Flight back to Austin was OK and I headed straight into work.
