Friday, 24 August 2012
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Texas Sized Post
The longer this stewed the harder this became to write...then I realized I can leave out the parts that bother me...
You see this started off kinda fun, the East Texas version to @Papafish88 South Tx post....
Then I started chatting with the kids & so the the stewing of TX history & how my family is a part of it began.Texas is almost like 5 different countries or states, with each area varying in country side & even accent changes. It is BIG for the lack of a better word.
Texas is actually a pretty great place to live, for a state our size with the influx of illegal immigrants we still have a decent economy & health care.
Most of Tx considers itself conservative & often vote Rep over Dem, Texas values are about Family, Home & God. At the heart of most Texans is that being Texan is a blood line, like being Irish or German,
East Texas my home & where I was raised.
The history of this place is rich, let's start with a part I find interesting is near me.The Old San Antonio Road:
Est. In 1691 - by a missionary wanting to come to East Texas. A lot of this road travels through the area we call the Big Thicket because seriously it's that green & that thick with greenery.
The Old San Antonio Road was not a single road, but a network of trails with different routes at different times.[1] The trail's path was dictated by things as diverse as weather and Indian threats. To this day you can go to the Mission Tejas & see the Old Ruts from wagon wheel, the Ol Mission & a cabin. Rice Family Log Home, built in 1828 and restored in 1974. The home, which Joseph Redmund Rice Sr. constructed between 1828 and 1838, is one of the oldest structures in the area. The home served as a stopover for immigrants, adventurers and local residents traveling the Old San Antonio Road across pioneer Texas. 
I Imagine my family had some dealings with this highway,as well as many Caddo Indians. I am the grand daughter of Who most ppl refer to as Chief Bowles (Bowl)Di'wali the Principle Chief Of the Cherokee tribes. The family story talks about how he brought the family south bc he knew something bad was coming from a revelation from God ( aka trail of tears). He moved the Family South & many years late with LOTS of history under the bridge he was murdered by POTUS & TX Pres decree ,15mins from the area where I grew up in 1839.The attack was so grievance to the ENTIRE local Indian community that peace was not treated until 1843. I will not swallow the dislike I feel for Andrew Jackson...it still runs hot even though I done a lot praying about it. To keep the gory details minimal lets just say somewhere among AJ things or even the White House is a piece of my Grandfather.
The odd bit is my other grandfather on my Irish side came from being a Solider in the Spanish War to owning land almost likely the same area where my other side was ran off, my family still owns these lands & farm.
The Texas State Railroad
The Texas state prison system established the railroad in 1881. In 1921 the regular rail service was discontinued and the line was leased to the Texas & New Orleans (Southern Pacific Railroad Co.) The Texas Southeastern Railroad leased the line in the early 1960s and continued operation of the line until 1969.The railroad was conveyed to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1972 and state inmates were again brought in to help with the creation of the state historical park. The park and railroad were opened to the public on July 4th, 1976, as part of the nation's Bicentennial Celebration.
I have ridden this train several times, it is fun & nostalgic. Here is a Link to see more.
Modern attractions:
As well as the train mentioned above & many many lovely State Parks. My Fav is the Tyler Sate Park.
A lot of East Texas is enjoyed for it's beautiful green hill side , lake country, fishing, beautiful historical homes, gardening societies & farming/ranching of all kinds. There is a large & excellent Healthcare community that draws many here.
We love our Music & entertainment , one only has to practically toss a coin to find a music festival in Tx.
(not my house)
I live in a Queen Anne Historical House...I love & HATE it at the same time...I don't think I would do it again...
There are many lovely cabins on lakes to rent I urge you to look into it & to wind it Down so this isn't a book...
Then We have the Texas & East Texas State Fair.
Texas State Fair Begins last Friday of September and last 24 days
September 28-October 21, 2012
The East Texas State Fair
Sept 21-30 2012
& almost a 100 years old.
Texas LOVE....
once you catch it, it's 4/ever!
Because There is no Place Like Home.
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Comments (27)
This was an enjoyable post, my dear <3 I learned a lot. My ex lives near Tyler (in Palestine).
I live in Houston. It is a very different part of Texas than what you're used to, I think. But I love it too.
Texas is so big it has its own sub-regions:
(1) Country/South Texas: including San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Cristi
(2) Central/Business Texas: big cities, Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth + I-45
(3) Southern Gospel/Trees/East Texas: Anything East of Dallas and north of Houston
(4) Cowboy/No Trees/West Texas: Anything West of Dallas, including Abilene, Lubbock, to El Paso
(5) North Texas: The Panhandle, including Amarillo and whatever else is up there ;.)
I have been in all these regions but North Texas.
@SerenaDante - Majority of the hubby's family is from there..I like Houston ok, except the roads & traffic.PapaFish had Houston in his post.
@SerenaDante - I think of Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth as their own separate region, separate from everything else. A "big city" region of sorts from Houston, down I-45 and into Dallas. I have lived and been to other areas of Texas (as seen in my above comment) and Houston and Dallas certainly have a different feel than the rest to me.
p.s. - I grew up in houston, went to college in East Texas, then grad school in west Texas.
@Doubledb - pretty good division descriptions! & North Tx is pretty enough until you get way North.
@Doubledb - All my family is from Dallas it does have it's own feel. Austin too...
This was an awesome post, on any scale! I loved seeing the photos of the log structures!
Great post, that train is so cool! I want to ride in a train like that someday instead of those crappy amtrak ones.
I loved Dallas when I went there. But havent seen enough of Texas.
Our state fair only lasts a week! It does look beautiful. I hope to visit some day!
I am a transplant texan...I have ridden on the Train too for my daughter's 10th bday. It was very nostalgic!! :) I am a sixteenth cherokee so somewhere in the great past we must be sisters...!!!! <3 and I always enjoy it when you do the cherokee history stuff.
thanks for the post. I enjoyed learning about some of Texas' history. I would love to visit and see some of it myself. mmmm the history, it's like a food, or something.
Have you read Texas by James A. Michener? It's a wonderful historical fiction, starting in the 1500s and going to... the 1980s, I believe. I'm re-reading it right now. It's awesome.
Loved this post.@WaitingToShrug - Everything by Michener is awesome. Read Centennial...learn about Colorado! LOL
Texas is the only state to have been an independent country.That alone makes it unique.
But I seriously doubt your grandfather was around in Andrew Jackson's days lolol. Great great grandfather maybe!
@Bricker59 - too many gggs distract ppl. LOL BUT I am from an older father who is from an older father which made it to where just my Great G parents where around in the civil war he was the drummer boy at the first battle, busted up his leg. & on the other side mentioned in here, that's just my GG grand father.
@Bricker59 - I really should. I think he has one about Alaska as well, and maybe... Hawaii? I *think*. I need to add them to my list. Especially Colorado, because we visit a lot and love it.
@WaitingToShrug - Both. he's written Alaska and Hawaii. Hawaii was made into a movie starring Julie Andrews. Centennial was made into a horribly messed up mini series (had six different directors).But it still had some good episodes.
Thank you for the beautiful trip through East Texas. I have lived in Dallas all my life and only had the pleasure of an East Texas visit twice. Once I went to the dogwood trails in bloom and the next time I wandered down through the slower highways that took me to Fort Polk. aI would approach a bridge for an overpass of some farm road and the sides of the road were painted.At first I thought it quite unique and then as I got closer it wasn't paint but flowers so dense you could not see the dirt. One would be blue with bluebonnets, the next the warm flame colored Indian Paint Brush, then the delicate pink of china buttercups and then the yellow buttercups. It seemed that the next was a different color each as beautiful as the one before. It was a wonderful trip I only got to make that one time. God blessed Texans with the lush land of the Big Thicket.
I have never been to Texas, but I enjoyed the history lesson. Beautiful pics and wonderful post dear.
@olwd - Thanks, where are you?
@Kris0logy - Currently in the DC area.
@Kris0logy - I've been to Gettysburg, it was a very interesting historical lesson on the Civil War.
@olwd - NICE, I've heard the fall colors & cherry trees are wonderful there. I think it would drive me nuts to be around that much political going ons. lol