TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION TEXASTEXAS This travel guide is made possible through FORESTFOREST TRAILTRAIL the Texas Historical Commission’s partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation, Office of the Governor – Economic Development REGIONREGION and Tourism, Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas Commission on the Arts. The Texas Historical Commission, the state agency for historic preservation, administers a variety of programs to preserve the archeological, historical and cultural resources of Texas. 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. It’s like a whole other country. For additional copies of this brochure, call 866/276-6219. P.O. BOX 12276 • AUSTIN, TX 78711-2276 PHONE: 512/463-6100 • FAX: 512/463-6374 www.thc.state.tx.us Funding provided through TxDOT’s Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program Copyright © 2004, Texas Historical Commission. Printed in Texas, No. 7/04- 450M EXPLORINGEXPLORING THETHE Inset: Sam Houston Statue and Visitor Center, Huntsville HERITAGEHERITAGE OFOF EASTEAST TEXASTEXAS panning 35 East Texas counties, from Red River County on the Oklahoma border to Jefferson County on the Gulf of Mexico, the Texas Forest Trail Region was the “Gateway to Texas” for prehistoric Caddo Indians, Spanish and French explorers, Anglo pioneers, enslaved and freed African Americans and European immigrants. Shadows of early Caddo and Spanish occupation linger, and the stories of Texas’ emergence from a wilderness to a great Sstate unfold in the region’s numerous towns, many among the state’s oldest. All you expect from Texas is here: wide-open spaces, oil derricks, rodeos and that proud-to-be-Texan spirit. But there’s more. Add four national and five state forests, abundant lakes and rivers, the incomparable Big Thicket, old southern plantations, historic courthouse squares, festivals galore, spectacular spring and fall color, bayous, swamps and alligators, and the Texas Forest Trail Region becomes the perfect place for tourists to indulge their appetites for history, culture and nature. The TexasTorest Trail # # Gateway toTexas ## # Texas heritage is everywhere — from historic downtowns with restored Victorian buildings, antique shops, soda fountains, museums and Civil War monuments to historic sites, railroads, sawmill towns and oil boomtowns. East Texans love their heritage, and if sometimes they get carried away it’s because they’re good storytellers not adverse to embellishing the already colorful facts. Legend has it East Texas is home to the invention of the hamburger and a biblically inspired flying machine which may have flown before the Wright brothers’ famous flight. The region boasts one of Texas’ greatest heroes, Sam Houston. A complex man, he lived with Cherokees in Oklahoma and was governor of Tennessee before leading Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico. Houston became the first elected president of the Republic of Texas, and when Texas became a state, he served as both a U.S. senator and governor. Exhibits at the Sam Houston Homestead & Museum Complex in Huntsville explore the life of the famous Texan. TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION The area’s original inhabitants were the Caddo Indians, an advanced prehistoric civilization of mound builders with sophisti- cated trade networks. The state owes its name to the Caddos. They welcomed Spanish explorers, calling them tejas, meaning friends. Texans declared independence from Mexico in 1836, but the spirit of independence flared earlier in East Texas. Nacogdoches was the site of three separate rebellions. After the fall of the Alamo, settlers from all over Texas fled their homes during the Runaway Scrape. Many headed for the Louisiana border and took refuge in East Texas towns until word came of the decisive victory at San Jacinto. Western expansion and European immigration brought many people to and through Texas beginning in the mid-1800s. They drove out most Native American tribes, but the Alabama- Coushatta remained on land set aside as a reservation near Livingston. Visitors can walk over a 560-foot historical bridge at the center of Footbridge Park in Rusk. # The Mobil Oil Pegasus, above, symbolizes the impact oil had in East Texas. The engineer checks his pocket watch at the Texas State Railroad State Park in Rusk and Palestine. 2 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION During the Civil War, Texas chose secession. Nowhere did passions When the Lucas Gusher blew at Spindletop in 1901, the word run higher than in East Texas. Some towns were suppliers and Texas became synonymous with oil. In the 1930s, the discovery mustering points for the Confederate Army, and most lost a signifi- of oil in Gladewater and Kilgore brought fortune hunters as well cant number of men. as desperate families seeking relief from the Great Depression. Boomtowns sprang up overnight. Following the Civil War, railroad expansion in East Texas and the depletion of forests in northern states gave rise to the timber industry. Historically, the Texas Forest Trail Region’s climate, natural beauty, Clear-cutting destroyed many old-growth forests, but eventually wildlife and medicinal springs attracted tourists and winter modern forestry and conservation practices were adopted. residents as far back as the early 1800s. Today the development of lakes, parks and trails, the creation of heritage attractions and the historic restoration of a dozen Texas Main Street cities Texas heritage make the region more inviting than ever. is everywhere... # from historic downtowns with restored Victorian buildings, antique shops, soda fountains, museums and Civil War monuments to historic sites, railroads, sawmill towns and oil boomtowns. A cenotaph dedicated to those killed in the 1937 school explosion in New London. Visitors can participate in hands-on exhibits at the many heritage festivals throughout the region. TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 3 ver Red Ri Pat Mayse Lake 37 ARKANSAS OKLAHOMA Lake Re Crook 259 d 37 Lake 82 Clarksville TOURIST Bonham River INFO 7 CENTER New Boston Texarkana 82 30 th S 42 Nort ulphur River phur River 37 Sul 67 8 67 271 Wright Patman 59 Mount 30 Lake Cooper 30 77 Lake Vernon 29 Mount 67 Atlanta Pleasant 3 Lake Monticello 49 259 30 Lake Cypress 8 77 ARKANSAS 11 Springs Daingerfield NA All you expect 37 168 LOUISIA 11 11 Linden 43 Lake Winnsboro 45 Pittsburg 155 For Lake Bob Reserkvoir Lake 37 Sandlin Quitman 59 30 Lake 271 154 Winnsboro Lake 49 from Texas is here: Gilmer 49 39 155 182 Jefferson 19 Lake Quitman 154 12 Lake O’the Tawakoni 37 Pines 20 Lake Gilmer 154 Karnack 71 Holbrook Caddo 27 Mineola Lake Lake 20 wide-open spaces, Cross 80 Hawkins 43 To Shreveport Lake 259 26 Lake 69 Gladewater Hallsville Marshall To Dallas/Fort Worth Sabin Longview e R Gladewater iver 24 20 20 155 13 80 42 31 TOURIST 43 59 INFO oil derricks, CENTER 271 149 Sab 31 in 21 e Kilgore R i 42 v 43 259 Lake e 49 64 Lake Tyler r 31 Cherokee Cedar Creek 19 Tyler East New 322 rodeos and that Reservoir London 45 Lake Lake155 43 Martin 149 2 135 33 323 198 Athens Tyler Lake 274 Athens 64 Joinerville 79 Carthage Lake Henderson 5 175 Palestine 15 Lake 69 42 259 Murvaul 135 Lake proud-to-be-Texan Striker 59 79 17 84 59 Jacksonville 7 19 204 155 Lake 84 96 Richland Chambers Jacksonville 87 spirit. Reservoir FAIRCHILD Center STATE 40 204 A 6 A t 287 79 FOREST t T Rusk n 59 a Fairfield r 36 g y SABINE in a ity K e 259 Toledo Bend AR l c Lake TE P i NATIONAL Palestine D STA n 7 Reservoir ILROA a FOREST E RA 147 STAT 1 Nacogdoches TEXAS 21 Ba Alto R yo i u 294 v 31 e r R 294 N i ec Lake v h 69 41 e e 21 San Augustine r Wechess Nacogdoches R 21 iv 19 44 e # r 147 103 Milam Houston 59 87 County Lake 287 21 103 184 14 Lake 103 25 Lufkin ANGELINA Hemphill Limestone 10 NATIONAL 96 45 FOREST 7 69 7 Crockett DAVY CROCKETT NATIONAL FOREST 94 147 Sam Rayburn 87 Reservoir TEXAS FOREST TRAIL REGION 96 N 21 a Groveton v a 63 Miles 0510 20 30 s 19 287 o 18 87 t 94 63 a B.A. Jasper 02030405 10 T Km r Sternhagen in Trinity R ity iver Lake Lake 34 i 45 R 287 v Livingston 69 10 e Newton r 190 ALABAMA— 190 287 N COUSHATTA 46 59 RESERVATION 190 Woodville E.O. 150 75 19 SIECKE 16 23 Livingston KIRBY STATE 156 STATE FOREST Gibbons Huntsville 19SAM HOUSTON FOREST Creek 30 NATIONAL BIG THICKET N Lake Coldspring 69 e 96 87 FOREST 8 NATIONAL c 287 h 75 PRESERVE BIG THICKET e Br s MASTERSON a R 35 zo VISITOR s Lake 150 150 i STATE v r R STATION e iv Conroe e FOREST v e 45 r i r T R ri e n 22 n i i t 62 b y a R Kountze Silsbee S i 28 v 69 e 287 105 r 96 BIG THICKET Montgomery 105 TOURIST 9 S Lumberton NATIONAL a 87 INFO n 326 PRESERVE CENTER J Conroe 59 a 105 W c 62 e i JONES st 242 n Beaumont F t 90 STATE or o 249 k 105 10 35 FOREST S R 4 a i Orange v n e Ja r The Woodlands c Creek in Lake Spring t 32 45 o Houston g Creek 124 96 NederlandSabine B Sprin r 10 Lake a z o Port 38 96 s 287 R To Houston S Arthur i a v n e J r 73 a c i n t o 87 4 10 Trinity 87 Bay Gulf of Mexico 1 ALTO For centuries travelers followed El Camino Real, or the Royal Highway, which roughly follows Texas State Highway 21 through Alto.