April 6, 2018 These parks, totaling 7000 acres, are connected by a ten-mile scenic drive. Stone and wood structures, designed to be non-intrusive, were built in the 1930s by the CCC. Lyndon Johnson would play poker in one of the park’s cabins. The parks are an isolated forest of loblolly Read more…
April 8, 2018 La Belle Our favorite exhibit in this museum of Texas history was La Belle, one of four ships sent by King Louis XIV of France to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1684. Three ships were lost and La Belle was wrecked in a storm in Matagorda Bay Read more…
April 7, 2018 The fourth Caldwell County jail was built in 1908-09 with proceeds from a $25,000 bond issue. Its five stories contain nine main cells divided into smaller compartments. The sheriff and his family lived on the ground floor. Today the Historical Society operates a museum on the first Read more…
April 7, 2018 Gene Galbraith came to Lockhart, Texas in 2006 to restore the clock in the tower of the Caldwell County Courthouse. He stayed and opened a not-for-profit museum of clocks and watches. In the meantime, he has restored other courthouse clocks in the state. Bob Brewer, a historian Read more…
April 4, 2018 The Texas Capitol Visitors Center is housed in the former General Land Office which was completed in 1847. The building is a combination of round-arch and Norman styles. Exhibit subjects include capitol construction, land grants made to soldiers of the Texas Revolution, and the writer O. Henry. Read more…
April 4, 2018 The construction of the Capitol we visited was authorized in 1881, and the completed building was dedicated in 1888. It is made of Sunset Red granite. Statues of Stephen F. Austin, who led early colonization of the area that would become Texas, and Sam Houston, who led Read more…
April 3, 2018 The Caldwell County seat is in Lockhart, about 20 miles and half an hour from our campground. The county is named for Matthew Caldwell, a Texas Ranger and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The Caldwell County courthouse is Second Empire style. The cornerstone was laid Read more…
April 2, 2018 The drive from Harlingen to McMahan was about 280 miles, about four and a half hours for us. The first third was mostly divided four-lane highway with a fair bit of traffic. The last part was on lightly traveled smaller roads lined with wildflowers. Our home for Read more…
April 1, 2018 We enjoyed watching flowers bloom and the landscape turn green as Spring arrived in the Rio Grande Valley. Some of the flowers were familiar, many were ones we didn’t see on the Treasure Coast. Sometimes on our walks came upon non-flowers that interested us. Alhough there are Read more…
March 21, 2018 We finally took a trip to Mexico and by chance were there for its Tourist Day. The trip itself is easy. Most people park on the U.S. side and walk across a bridge (50¢ cross into Mexico; 25¢ to return) with a shaded pedestrian path. No documentation Read more…