TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION This travel guide is made possible through the Texas Historical Commission’s partnership TEXAS with the Texas Department of Transportation, Office of the Governor - Economic Develop- ment and Tourism, Texas Parks and Wildlife Lakes Trail and Texas Commission on the Arts. The Texas Historical Commission, the state REGION agency for historic preservation, administers a variety of programs to preserve the archeological, historical and cultural resources of Texas. Texas Heritage Trails Program The Texas Historical Commission is a leader in implementing and promoting heritage tourism efforts in Texas. The Texas Heritage Trails Program is the agency’s top tourism initiative. EXPLORING THE HERITAGE OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS For additional copies of this brochure, call 866.276.6219. Funding provided through TxDOT’s Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program Copyright © 2003, Texas Historical Commission Printed in Texas, No. 10/03- 450M Inset: Wise County Courthouse, Decatur Background: Lake Texoma Background: TxDOT Texas The Lakes Trail Where the Old South meets the Wild West Geographically and historically, the Texas Lakes Trail Region of North Texas has long been a meeting place. Once, a great ancient sea met the land here. The sea receded. The land became rolling tallgrass prairies — the Blackland and Grand Prairies — located between piney woods to the east and wind-blown plains to the west. Major rivers — the Red, Trinity, Brazos, Sabine and Sulphur crossed the prairies, as did belts of hardwood forests called the Eastern and Western Cross Timbers. In these verdant grasslands and scattered forests, game such as buffalo, pronghorn and bear thrived. Bands of Wichita and Caddo Indians lived here in domed grass huts, hunting game and growing corn, tobacco and melons. Spanish soldiers of the De Soto-Moscoso Expedition trekked Downtown Grapevine here in 1542, searching in vain for gold and silver. The French arrived from neighboring Louisiana in the 1700s, engaging in trade with local Indians. During the first half of the 19th century, settlers from the South and Midwest trickled into the region. The trickle became a flood after the Republic of Texas became the state of Texas in 1845. Cotton growers and their slaves extended the cotton culture to the prairies, turning rich Blackland into cotton plantations. Background: TxDOT s farms and towns cropped up, authorities By the turn-of-the-20th century, rising wealth and burgeon- pushed out native peoples and established ing populations turned Dallas and Fort Worth into centers of frontier forts, including Fort Worth, to commerce and culture. In the 1910s and 1920s, oil discoveries protect the settlers. in North Texas further boosted the economy. Frontier settlers kept up with news Big lakes began dotting the prairies beginning in the 1930s, A from “back East” via the Butterfield as several decades of federal dam building impounded more Overland Mail stagecoaches which rambled through here than 30 major lakes, providing reliable water resources to a (1858–61) on their way from St. Louis to California. growing region. The Trinity River basin formed lakes such as Ray Despite anti-secession sentiment in a few counties, the Roberts, Lewisville, Lavon, Ray Hubbard, Cedar Creek and region supplied men and materials to the Confederacy during the Richland Creek. On the Sabine River came Lake Tawakoni. The Civil War. After the war, families fled the ravaged South for a fresh largest of all, Lake Texoma, harnessed the middle stretch of the start on the prairies and freed slaves moved from plantations into flood-prone Red River. Reservoirs also created new opportunities growing towns such as Dallas. for outdoor recreation. A new Texas enterprise arrived on the prairies in the 1870s Today, the Lakes Trail Region sprawls across 31 counties and 1880s — the cowboy from the Red River in the north to the Bosque River in the culture. Drovers herded south, from the prairie cities of Paris and Sulphur Springs in the millions of Longhorns from South Texas through North Texas along the Chisholm, Experience a culture shaped by Shawnee and Western cattle trails, crossing at the Red cattle and cotton. River on their way to market railheads in Kansas. Cattle and cotton shaped the culture, but steel rails brought the first prosperity in the late 1800s. With the arrival of trains, Texas cattle, cotton and other agricultural prod- ucts found unprecedented access to outside markets. Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Glen Rose Hopkins County Museum and Heritage Park, Sulphur Springs Background: TxDOT 2 east to the plains cities of Wichita Falls and Vernon in the west. meeting place — where the heritage of the Old South meets the The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex remains the regional hub, heritage of the Wild West. offering an array of world-class cultural, commercial and The Texas Historical Commission created this brochure to educational opportunities. highlight heritage sites that preserve the fascinating story of the Cities, towns and farms have replaced the tallgrass prairies, diverse peoples — Indians, Spanish, French, Americans, African though a few still exist. The Texas Lakes Trail Region remains a slaves and Texans — who made this place their home. Historic home, Farmersville TxDOT Bosque County Museum, Clifton Parker County Peach Festival, Weatherford 3 verflowing with adventure, beauty and history, the Texas Lakes Trail Region offers an exceptional travel experience. 283 With so much to see and do, the only problem is deciding 70 O 287 where to start. This travel guide makes that easy by divid- 183 ing the region into four sections, each accessible from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Vernon 70 4 Each is filled with the heritage and culture that makes the region, as well as Texas, Electra 287 Santa Rosa Lake ichita Rive r 25 W truly unique. Here are a few of the many things to see and do: 183 283 Lake Kemp Explore history museums on topics from the cotton and cattle cultures to 82 African American and Hispanic heritage. 277 Lake Peruse shops and eateries on quaint courthouse squares or tour world-class Seymour Kickapoo Archer City art museums. 277 183 283 Watch cowboys vie in rodeos and Native Americans dance in powwows. 79 Enjoy shows at restored vaudeville theaters or overnight in historic lodgings. Miller's Creek Reservoir Ride a steam-powered train or hop a 1940s urban electric trolley. Sample Texas wines or nibble on fruitcake famous for more than a century. 380 Visit the world’s largest state fair or the world’s largest flea market. Throckmorton Step inside the ancient footprint of a dinosaur or stroll prairies unchanged in 150 years. 183 P K Hubbard Creek TEXAS LAKES283 Reservoir TRAIL REGION Miles 01020 30 180 Km6 0203010 40 351 35 INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 183 377 U.S. HIGHWAY6 N 171 STATE HIGHWAY TEXAS TRAVEL TRAIL TRAVEL INFORMATION CENTER Pioneer Park, Dallas 4 177 70 OKLAHOMA 79 377 44 Wichita Lake Texoma d R 75 Re ive iver Falls er r ed R Riv R 82 ita Lake Lake 271 287 ch 91 Pat Wi Nocoma tle Henrietta Mayse Lit Moss Lake 377 Denison Lake Crook Coffee Mill Lake Paris 81 Lake Crockett 82 82 69 82 Montague 59 82 287 Lake Bonham Lake 56 19 271 Gainesville Sherman Brushy 56 24 Arrowhead Creek Bonham Reservoir North Su lphu rRi Bowie 35 ver C 289 5 Whitewright 81 l ea 160 287 r C hur D ree outh Sulp en k S t Ray Roberts Pilot 50 on C Lake Point 75 154 59 r 377 Cooper 281 ee 121 69 Lake k Celina Lake Bridgeport Denton 78 24 67 380 380 DecaturT 50 r Farmersville Jacksboro i n 35 McKinney i E Sulphur ty Greenville 380 R Lewisville 121 5 Lavon ive 377 Lake Springs r Lake 19 35 Pres. George W Grapevine Plano Graham 281 Carrollton Bush Turnpike 30 34 Lake 78 199 Rockwall Eagle Mountain Grapevine Farmers Branch Lake Fork Possum 81 White Rock Lake 287 276 Lake Kingdom Lake Tawakoni Lake Bedford 30 Lake Ray Hubbard Emory Mineral Lake Sa bin 199 Lake Dallas Mesquite 205 e Ri Weatherford 183 Irving ver Wells Worth 820 360 12 Terrell 69 180 635 80 30 80 180 180 Weatherford Arlington 20 Edgewood 80 20 Fort Worth T 19 ri Lake Palo Pinto 20 20 nity El Braz Joe Pool Lake mF Kaufman os Riv Rive er Benbrook Ferris 243 377 o Cedar Hill r 34 Lake rk Canton 45 175 Cedar Creek 198 287 o Reservoir Lake 77 f Granbury Granbury 67 Tyler Waxahachie the T 274 Ennis rin 19 144 Cleburne 35 it 31 281 W y 377 198 Riv 35 er Athens Glen Lake Pat 171 E 287 Lake Lake 69 Rose Br Cleburne az Bardwell Lake Athens Palestine Stephenville os 34 175 67 Corsicana 31 67 174 377 144 22 309 287 220 Nararro Mills Lake 45 19 Lake 31 Proctor Whitney Hillsboro 171 Lake Richland-Chambers N Reservoir ech Meridian 22 14 287 79 e s Leo 281 R n Lake Palestine i River 84 v e B Fairfield r Clifton o 35 s q 84 u Bra e z 6 R os ive 84 r Lake Waco 79 Lake Waco Mexia 19 5 The Cattle Raisers Museum chronicles Texas ranch life through film, photos, interactive exhibits and displays of ranching memorabilia. The recently expanded Amon Carter Museum originally showed Southwestern Corridor 400 works from local philanthropist Amon G. Carter’s Western art For a true Texas experience, live it up in the big city then collection. It broadened its focus and now houses a wide range of head out to uncover quaint small towns. Explore commu- 19th- and 20th-century American art and photographs. nities that offer everything from baseball memorabilia to Two other Cultural District museums showcase Fort Worth’s urban authentic dinosaur tracks.