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Paris and Pittsburg. Texas that is. Visiting all 254 Texas county courthouses

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Paris and Pittsburg. Texas that is. Visiting all 254 Texas county courthouses

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Old Jan 6, 2017, 7:37 pm
  #46  
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Originally Posted by TheBOSman
^

Tough as you get into the further away ones!
Yep.. the closest ones I haven't yet visited (Athens, Paint Rock or Kaufman) are ~3hr drives! I'll need to start doing weekend trips instead of day trips
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Old Feb 20, 2017, 2:43 am
  #47  
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Hey hauteboy - I met you at the 2012 COW DO and you were still collecting countries. Thought about you today and looked you back up. Appears you have finished your quest? Anyhow, awesome trip though Texas and I need to go back and scan through this post.
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Old Feb 20, 2017, 5:13 am
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Man, 254 counties. It puts TX in perspective. Only 23 counties and one independent city in Maryland. Enjoying the report, especially the historic courthouses.
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Old Feb 20, 2017, 9:32 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Flyer_70
Hey hauteboy - I met you at the 2012 COW DO and you were still collecting countries. Thought about you today and looked you back up. Appears you have finished your quest? Anyhow, awesome trip though Texas and I need to go back and scan through this post.
Ah yes finished last May... looks like I need to write some more on this trip report too!
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 12:21 am
  #50  
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Ok way behind on this...

April 8-9, 2016
Distance driven: 540 miles

Counties visited: Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Harris, Montgomery, Walker, Madison (84/254)




I was planning on going to the Traveler's Century Club meeting in Houston. Why not combine the drive with another courthouse circuit? I thought about leaving Friday evening for the drive to Houston and getting a hotel, letting me get an early start the next morning. I made a last minute points redemption for a Hyatt House in west Houston and left about 9PM. Arrived at the Hyatt Place near midnight. The girl working the front desk must have been new as she first gave me a key to a room that didn't exist... then second room she gave me didn't exist either! Finally she gets me a room but only after going and physically checking if the room was there, heh.

The next morning I got up before sunrise and drove down towards Richmond, it was still nearly a 40-minute drive. Houston keeps expanding out further and further, most of the way was just housing developments and strip malls. The sky was overcast and still fairly dark when I arrived at Richmond so my pictures didn't come out the best. The courthouse looked fairly similar to the one in Georgetown, and I discovered they had the same architect.



#78 Richmond, FORT BEND County

From Richmond it was about an hour's drive south to Angleton. The route passed through some of the rice farms common in southeast Texas. The site where I got GPS coordinates for the courthouses apparently had the wrong location for Angleton... but I was able to find the right place a few blocks away.


#79 Angleton, BRAZORIA County

Galveston was a long, boring 1hr drive from Angleton. The land here is dead flat and not much other than a refinery out in the middle of nowhere. It had been years since I'd been to Galveston. It's a nice seaside town, but in February it wasn't too busy. Galveston built a new courthouse in 2006 on the western side of town but I went into the center to visit the 1966 one it replaced. I had a bit of a drive along the seawall.


#80 Galveston, GALVESTON County

It was already nearly 10AM and I had to make the TCC meeting at Hobby airport by 11AM. Made it just in time. The meeting was being held at the old 1940s Art Deco terminal.

The meeting ended at 2PM and by now the sun had come out. So I figured I'd keep driving north up IH45 before heading back to Austin. I've been to Houston many times but never really had a reason to visit downtown. The current courthouse was a multi-story glass building but the original 1910 courthouse was just a few blocks away.



#81 Houston, HARRIS County

From downtown Houston, Conroe was about 45 minutes. A travel buddy of mine was visiting his parents in Conroe and I debated stopping by his place for a bit. I missed his turnoff though and continued to central Conroe. The courthouse here was another grey limestone Depression era building. I headed to McKenzie BBQ for a bit of brisket before continuing north on I45.


#82 Conroe, MONTGOMERY County

I hadn't been this far north on I45 before. Huntsville was the next county seat to visit. It is home to Sam Houston State University and the Huntsville Unit, where Death Row executions take place. The fifth courthouse was fairly modern, dating from 1970.



#83 Huntsville, WALKER County

I continued north along I45 towards Madisonville, named after James Madison. The courthouse also dated from 1970.


#84 Madisonville, MADISON County

I was torn about continuing north towards Centerville, or going back to Austin. I was getting a bit tired, and it was clouding over so heading home won out. It was still a 2h30 drive back to Austin
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 12:31 am
  #51  
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June 12, 2016
Distance driven: 630 miles



Counties visited: Bexar, Medina, Uvalde, Zavala, Dimmit, Maverick, Val Verde, Kinney, Edwards, Real, Bandera, Kendall (96/254)


Mrs and miss hauteboy were in Georgia for a week, so I had a whole week free! My friend Dean's son was getting married in San Antonio so I went down for the festivities. It was an outdoor wedding in June, so it was stinking hot. After the wedding I spent the night at Dean's place and we went out for tacos the next morning.

I headed out around 10:30AM. The weather was cloudy in San Antonio but was supposed to clear up towards the west. My first stop was the San Antonio courthouse. This was a gorgeous, huge Romanesque style from 1896, though it has been expanded several times.



#85 San Antonio, BEXAR County

I headed out west on US90 towards Hondo. There is a great Alsatian bakery in Castroville but unfortunately they are closed on Sundays. The area is very flat farmland. US90 continued to parallel the railroad.





#86 Hondo, MEDINA County

The Hondo Courthouse dates from 1893. The sun was finally trying to peek through the clouds. The old 1893 jail (restored in 2009) was on the corner of the courthouse square.




#87 Uvalde, UVALDE County

Uvalde was the next stop west on US90. Best known as birthplace of Matthey McConaughey. Alright alright alright. I'd gotten a picture of the 1928 courthouse several years ago, though before I started my courthouse trips.


#88 Crystal City, ZAVALA County

From Uvalde, I turned south on US83 towards Crystal City and Carizzo Springs. The land is flat and dry and there's a lot of nothing other than the fracking trucks. Crystal City calls itself the Spinach Capital of the World. It has a bit more of a sordid history as a detention camp for Japanese and Germans during WWII. The long,low 1969 courthouse had all the appeal of a strip mall.



#89 Carizzo Springs, DIMMIT County

Carizzo Springs was the next stop, a quick 15 minute drive, I think they are the two closest county seats in Texas. The 1884 courthouse was designed by Alfred Giles, and expanded in the 1920s.



#90 Eagle Pass, MAVERICK County

I headed west on US277 towards the Mexican border and Eagle Pass. This is a really boring drive, straight, flat, and nothing other than a US Border checkpoint (more for traffic coming the other way). Really starts to give you a perspective how big and empty Texas is.

The Maverick County Courthouse was modern building, but the original 1885 courthouse was right behind it.



#91 Del Rio, VAL VERDE County

Del Rio was another hour's drive north, paralleling the Rio Grande. The courthouse dates from 1887 and has unique octagonal corner towers.




#92 Brackettville, KINNEY County

I headed east back along US90 towards Brackettville. The smallest county seat so far I'd visited today, only ~1850 people. The afternoon light really lit up the yellow-brick courthouse nicely.



#93 Rocksprings, EDWARDS County

The drive through the hill country to Rocksprings was gorgeous, but very remote. I only saw 2 cars in the 60 miles drive. The road passed by Kickapoo Cavern State Park. Rocksprings has one of the smallest courthouses I'd seen so far, and there was a tiny jail on the courthouse square. Rocksprings is the 'Angora Goat Capital of the World'.



#94 Leakey, REAL County

It was already 5PM by this point but still had a few more hrs of sunlight, but with 3 more planned courthouses. It was an hour's drive to Leakey. I had passed through Leakey many years ago when visiting Garner State Park. Leakey is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kinda place, at 425 people it's one of the smallest county seats I had visited so far. The courthouse was also tiny.


Hill Country



#95 Bandera, BANDERA County

The drive through the Hill Country towards Bandera is one of my favorite drives in Texas, especially in the golden afternoon light. Arrived at Bandera at 8PM with perfect sunset glow on the courthouse.



#96 Boerne, KENDALL County

I was trying to race the sunset and fading light to reach my final courthouse in Boerne (pronounced Burnie). I lost that goal, arriving just as light was fading.

Usually on my roadtrips I'll just stock up on water and beef jerky to snack on. It had been a long driving day though and I was starving by this point. There was a burger/ice cream joint near the courthouse.

From Boerne it was still another 2 hr drive back to Austin. I took the shorter route via Blanco and US290.
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 6:47 pm
  #52  
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It's very amusing to see this TR get bumped. When it was originally posted it didn't interest me much. But now I'm a lawyer and one of my goals is to have a case in every North Carolina County Courthouse. There are 100 and in my ten months of practicing law I've already hit 33 of them.

Nice to see I'm not alone in my local goals. It'll be fun to see who gets there first.
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 8:24 pm
  #53  
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It's very amusing to see this TR get bumped. When it was originally posted it didn't interest me much. But now I'm a lawyer and one of my goals is to have a case in every North Carolina County Courthouse. There are 100 and in my ten months of practicing law I've already hit 33 of them.
Grew up in NC and we had to memorize all 100 counties in 8th grade. Alamace, Alexander, Allegheny, Anson, Ashe, ....
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 10:54 pm
  #54  
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June 17-18, 2016
Distance driven: 510 miles

Counties Visited: Leon, Houston, Angelina, Nacogdoches, Cherokee, Anderson, Freestone, Limestone (104/254)




Mrs and miss hauteboy were still out of town, so decided to go do another courthouse run



#97 Centerville, LEON County
Set off after work, heading via Taylor and Hearne before turning east at Marquez. State Highway 7 was in pretty bad condition. Arrived in Centerville just after sunset unfortunately but still just enough light to get a picture of the courthouse, a very pretty brick building dating from 1886. The red brick jail was nearby.



#98 Crockett, HOUSTON County

Since it was getting dark, I decided to spend the night in either Crockett or Lufkin, and I figured Lufkin would have better hotel options. Crockett was another 30 minutes drive. This would be my first courthouse I visited at night, though that means I'll just have to revisit at some point. It was another 1930s Art-Deco style.




#99 Lufkin, ANGELINA County

Heading east from Crockett, the road passes through the Davy Crockett National Forest. Arrived in Lufkin quite late. I hadn't booked a hotel yet and the first few I checked were already full! Ended up finding room at a La Quinta.

The next morning I got up early and headed o the center of town at 7AM. It was a gorgeous morning but the sun still wasn't fully up yet. The courthouse was a blocky, boxy 1950s building. Stopped at a nearby coffee place to fuel up for the drive.



#100 Nacogdoches, NACOGDOCHES County

Nacogdoches was one of the original Spanish missions in Texas, connected to San Antonio and Mexico by the Camino Real. None of the Spanish mission remains though. The courthouse was built in 1958. Nacogdoches and Lufkin are decent sized towns with 34k and 36k population, respectively. Nacogdoches was my 100th courthouse visited!




#101 Rusk, CHEROKEE County

I turned west towards Rusk, along State Highway 21. The trip took abou 45 minutes. The courthouse, the fourth one for the county, dated from 1941 and was faced with rough limestone.





#102 Palestine, ANDERSON County

Palestine (pronounced PAL-us-teen) was the next stop, about 30 minutes from Rusk. The huge Beaux Arts courthouse was completed in 1914. It was designed by Charles Page, who also designed San Marcos and Georgetown courthouses. There was something going on this morning, people were setting up tables in the courthouse square and there was a bizzare looking Polaris Slingshot roadster here.



#103 Fairfield, FREESTONE County

Fairfield was another 40 minutes from Palestine, arriving at 10AM. Fairfield is just off I45 with a population of 2900. The 1919 courthouse was draped with bunting for some reason.



Kirby's BBQ

I was getting a bit hungry. As part of my roadtrips I've been scoping out some of the Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ restaurants. Kirby's BBQ was on the way from Fairfield to Groesbeck. Stopped in for brisket and sausage, my usual go-tos. Brisket was OK but dry.




#104 Groesbeck, LIMESTONE County

Groesbeck was my final county seat to visit in the I35/I45/I10 triangle. The courthouse was an impressive classical revival building from 1924.


Marlin, FALLS County (revisit)

I started the drive back to Austin, passing through Marlin on the way. I'd visited Marlin previously but stopped by the courthouse again as my previous photos were at sunset.


Whup's BBQ

Whup's Boomerang BBQ was another place on the Top 50 list. I was still pretty full from Kirby's but couldn't resist stopping. It was right at lunchtime though so there was a bit of a line/wait. Brisket was very good.

It was still another ~2hr drive back to Austin where I headed to the airport just in time to pick up mrs and miss hauteboy.

Last edited by hauteboy; Aug 12, 2017 at 7:50 pm
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Old Aug 1, 2017, 11:30 pm
  #55  
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August 4-8, 2016
Distance driven: 1030 miles

Counties visited: Chambers, Jefferson, Orange, Liberty (108/254)




It had been a couple of months since my last roadtrip. Mrs hauteboy had to go to a conference in New Orleans so we decided to make a long weekend of it and drive there, combining the trip with a courthouse run.

We left late Thursday evening, driving about 3 hrs and booking a hotel east of Houston so we could get an early start the next morning.


#105 Anahuac, CHAMBERS County

Anahuac was a town on one of the bayous. The courthouse was 1936 Art Deco style.


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#106 Beaumont, JEFFERSON County

The drive east of Houston on I10 is fairly boring.. dead straight and flat other than the dogleg at Winnie. Beaumont is a good sized town with 118k population. Beaumont is a major port and was once a major shipbuilding port for the oil industry. The 13-story courthouse is one of the tallest in the state, but the sun angle was bad.


#107 Orange, ORANGE County

Orange was the next courthouse, and the last one for today. The courthouse was undergoing some renovation. It dates from 1937 and was designed by Charles Page.



#108 Liberty, LIBERTY County

On the way back from New Orleans, we detoured west from Beaumont to Liberty. The courthouse was completed in 1931 and enlarged in 1957. There was a nice field of grass out front, miss hauteboy was tired from being in the car for so long and spent a few minutes running around.
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Old Aug 2, 2017, 4:10 am
  #56  
 
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Thanks for continuing this thread! I really enjoy the driving trip reports, as one of my favorite pastimes is driving through the places in between big cities.

Since my real passion is minor league baseball, I have enjoyed a lot of country roads and small cities.

Looking forward to the continuation.
T
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Old Aug 2, 2017, 7:59 am
  #57  
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Originally Posted by fivevsone
Thanks for continuing this thread!
Indeed, great to see!
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Old Aug 4, 2017, 10:54 am
  #58  
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Very cool!

I know someone who county collects all over the country and only considers it "collected" if he has a photo of him taken in front of the courthouse. Last time I checked he was at just under 2000 counties.

He is a pilot for a company based in VA that has business interests all up and down the east coast and as far west as Illinois, with lots of trips to rural areas. On his stopovers he'll often take the "crew car" out to get to the courthouse
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Old Aug 6, 2017, 8:44 pm
  #59  
 
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Hopefully you can make it up to Taylor County (Abilene) soon. When you do, hit up ether Joe Allen's or Betty Roses for BBQ. You won't be disappointed. Keep the trips coming.
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Old Aug 9, 2017, 10:56 am
  #60  
 
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One of the most interesting TR I've read! Definitely gives me ideas🤔
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