Deep in the East Texas piney woods, Panola County put a singing cowboy on a Hollywood horse. Tex Ritter grew up on a farm right here, born in 1905 — and he learned his cowboy songs not out on the range but in a classroom at the University of Texas, from folklorist J. Frank Dobie and song-collector John Lomax. New York handed him the name: cast in a cowboy play, the company started calling him Tex, and it stuck for the rest of his life. He signed to Capitol Records one month after the label opened its doors. He sang the theme to "High Noon" — "Do Not Forsake Me" — and it won the Academy Award. Fifth man ever inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. And the streak ran in the blood: his son was the actor John Ritter.

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Tex Ritter Museum at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame RoadyGoat

Carthage, in the East Texas piney woods, built a whole museum inside a fake movie theater — and it's all for one man, Tex Ritter, one of the most famous singing cowboys who ever rode across a screen. Step in and you'll find his boots, his shirts, his guitars and saddles, the old movie posters, the whole career laid out end to end. His cousin, Tommie Ritter Smith, is the one who founded it, tucked inside the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — which also claims native son Jim Reeves and the singer Johnny Horton, better than fifty stars in all. Doors open Mondays through Saturdays, ten to four, ten dollars to get in. Every August, they throw a festival. A cowboy town that never stopped singing.

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History of Carthage

The Giant Under Carthage RoadyGoat

1936

Beneath Carthage lies one of North America's great natural-gas fields. Gas was first struck here in 1936, when drillers tapped the Pettit formation about 6,000 feet down. Real production waited until 1944, when the Jordan well came in a mile west of town. After World War II the Carthage field grew into one of the largest gas fields in the United States, stretching roughly 48 miles long and 24 miles wide across Panola County. The prize is the Cotton Valley sand, a thick but very tight rock so low in permeability that engineers must fracture it to coax the gas out. Over the decades the field has yielded on the order of 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Panola County remains a top Texas gas producer today, now tapping the deeper Haynesville shale.

Carthage, TX RoadyGoat

Carthage, Texas, has a rich history that began in 1847, two years after Texas joined the United States. During the Civil War, many from Carthage and Panola County fought as Confederate soldiers, while African-American resident Milton M. Holland, formerly enslaved, served as a Union sergeant and earned a Medal of Honor. After the Civil War, the city's population grew slowly, but it expanded significantly in 1888 with the arrival of a railroad, telegraph, and telephone lines. The discovery of a gas field during the Great Depression and its development after World War II led to a population boom, increasing from about 1,300 to 5,000. A courthouse, high school, and Panola County Junior College were all established during this period.

Carthage, TX RoadyGoat

After the Civil War, Carthage and the surrounding county saw significant production of cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, oats, and sugarcane. The discovery of a gas field during the Great Depression and its development after World War II proved to be a major economic driver for the city, as it was the largest gas field in the United States at the time.

Neal, Margie

1875

(1875-1971) A native of Panola County, Margie Elizabeth Neal began her career as a teacher in 1893. She became editor and owner of the East Texas Register newspaper in 1904. A respected educator and leader in the woman suffrage movement, she was the first woman appointed to the State Normal School Board of Regents in 1921. Five years later she made history as the first woman elected to the Texas Senate. After serving in several Federal positions in Washington, she returned to Carthage in 1945 and was active in civic affairs for many years.

Historical Marker →

Neal, Margie Elizabeth

1926

Mary "Margie" Elizabeth Neal, first woman in the Texas Senate, was born near Clayton, Texas, on April 20, 1875. She was the second of four children of William Lafayette and Martha (Gholston) Neal. She lived in Carthage for most of her life. She attended but did not graduate from Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University). After a short teaching career in Panola County and in Fort Worth she returned in 1903 to Carthage, where her father bought the Texas Mule , a weekly newspaper. She became editor and publisher of the paper, which she renamed the East Texas Register, for eight years. In 1912 she sold the paper and took up caring for her mother full time. Neal became involved in the woman suffrage movement and served as the secretary of the Panola County Equal Suffrage Association and as the Eighth Senatorial District chairman for the Texas Equal Suffrage Association 's campaigns. She is thought to be the first woman to register to vote in Panola County in 1918. That year she was also the first women member of the State Democratic Executive Committee. After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment prevented all states from restricting voting rights based on sex, Neal served in the League of Women Voters and was the only woman on the State Executive Committee of the Democratic party in 1920. She also was a delegate, along with Minnie Fisher Cunningham , to the Democratic national convention in San Francisco that year. Neal was the first woman member of the board of regents of the State Teachers Colleges of Texas (State Normal Schools) on which she served from 1921 to 1927. During her tenure, the board selected the site and president of the Stephen F. Austin Normal College (later Stephen F. Austin State University) in Nacogdoches. Neal's work on the board motivated her to run for the Texas Senate where she thought she could be more effective in pursuing education reform in the state. She announced her candidacy in March 1926 for the second senatorial district on a platform for better rural schools; increased education spending; a gasoline tax to fund an improved highway system; aid to farmers, labor, and capital; and fewer, better laws with improved enforcement. She won four of the five counties in her district and lost only her opponent's home county of Shelby. She served four consecutive terms. Working for prison reform, Neal served on a legislative inspection party that visited several prison farms in February 1927. She was chairperson of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. In 1928 Neal introduced the bill that established the State Board of Education (later replaced by the Texas Education Agency ), sponsored a bill that introduced public school physical education classes, and actively supported a bill that made the study of the state and national constitutions mandatory. She was instrumental in the passage of legislation that appropriated $1.6 million, the largest amount of funding for rural education in Texas at the time, for each of the next two academic years. Neal worked for higher standards for teacher certification while serving on the Senate Committee on Education Affairs, on which she served as vice-chair in 1927 and chair from 1929 to 1933. She also pushed the legislature to adopt an official state song and organized committee hearings in all senatorial districts. As a result, the Texas legislature adopted "Texas, Our Texas" as state song in May 1929. In 1929 she became the first woman to serve as Senate president pro tem (ad interim, elected at close of session) in Texas. She filled that roll again in 1933. In 1930 Neal ran unopposed and was reelected to the Texas Senate. She spent much of her next term battling Governor Ross Sterling , who called a 1931 special session of the state legislature to allow the state commissioners for the General Land Office and the Railroad Commission to contract or lease out the bed of the Sabine River for oil exploration and drilling. Most of the

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Moorman, Charles Watt

1839

Watt Moorman, a leader in the Regulator-Moderator War , son of Charles Hancock and Sophia (Maghee) Moorman, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, around 1817. His parents settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Columbus, Mississippi, before being driven to Texas by the Panic of 1837. The Moormans, including Watt's three brothers and three sisters, settled in northwest Shelby County (later a part of Panola County). In 1839 Texas was in turmoil. Most of the new arrivals were from states steeped in traditional legal recourse and its protection, but an element in Texas was engaged in producing fraudulent land certificates, slave theft, and other unlawful activities. The oldest settlers were unwilling or unable to control these activities. The new decided if the law wouldn't, they would, and banded themselves together as "Regulators" (i.e., vigilantes) dedicated to driving the lawless from Shelby County. This group was organized by Charles W. Jackson . Jackson was murdered from ambush, in retaliation for burning the homes of those the Regulators considered the worst and for killing Joe Goodbread, an alleged land pirate. Jackson was warning the world about fraudulent headright certificates (land scrip) being issued by many counties. Goodbread warned Jackson, the result being Goodbread's death. The murder of Jackson joined the issue and began the bloodiest feud in Texas history. Moorman replaced Jackson as head Regulator, and Ed Merchent organized the opposition under the name Moderators. Moorman, a natural leader, claimed the loyalty of the best citizens. Some allege he was a forger from Columbus, Mississippi, who had to come to Texas, though no record of his supposed crimes exists in the official court records of Columbus, Mississippi. When he moved to Texas in 1839 he brought his whole family, a fact that suggests he was no fugitive. Moorman's Regulators captured the McFadden brothers, three of Jackson's killers, all Moderators. An irregular trial was held before most of the Shelbyville townspeople in October 1841. The accused confessed. Bill and Bailey McFadden were hanged, and a younger McFadden boy was released. Most of the county concurred that the victims not only killed Jackson but an innocent citizen in his company. Moorman was a hero, but not for long. The Regulators controlled Shelbyville, where he became a virtual dictator. Men were killed on both sides, mostly from ambush. Without any protection, citizens were terrified. James F. Cravens organized a group of "Reformers," which a few Moderators joined; but the worst were denied, including John M. Bradley. On July 24, 1844, a peace treaty was signed by Moorman and Cravens. Moorman married Helen Mar Daggett in early 1844, ignoring the objections of her family. Her brother, Eph. Daggett, a Regulator, described Moorman: Watt could shoot straighter than any man I ever saw. He was a good scholar, wrote poetry that was real funny, and he had a comical laugh. He would not confine himself to any kind of business, was the ideal of his father and mother, played billiards and ten pins, bruised fellows' heads with billiard cues, rode his friends' horses, spent their money and wore their clothes. He gave away his own clothes if had more than his share, had the most respectable men for his friends, and anything he wanted that they had was at his service. Moorman was usually armed with a Bowie knife and a pair of pistols. He carried a heavy stick to cane his minor enemies and, like Robin Hood, carried a hunting horn on his saddle. The peace treaty acknowledged that "John M. Bradley had seduced many of the respectable citizens with false allegations about the Regulators." Bradley was apparently not a party to the treaty; Moorman killed him at a revival in San Augustine. Bradley had threatened Moorman's life and evidently was involved in an ambush in which Moorman was shot in the hip. The feud immediately resumed, and eventually involved hundreds of men from Harrison County and other East Texas co

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Ritter, Woodward Maurice [Tex]

1905

Tex Ritter, country singer and movie star, son of James Everett and Elizabeth (Matthews) Ritter, was born Woodward Maurice Ritter on January 12, 1905, in Murvaul, Panola County. Ritter's signature as a student at the University of Texas shows that he spelled his first name Woodard (not Woodward), and a delayed birth certificate filed in Panola County in 1942 also shows the spelling Woodard; however, all printed sources use the spelling Woodward. He moved to Nederland in Jefferson County, to live with a sister, and graduated from South Park High School in nearby Beaumont. He attended the University of Texas from 1922 to 1927, spending one year in the law school there, 1925–26. As a student he was influenced by J. Frank Dobie , Oscar J. Fox , and John A. Lomax —who encouraged his study of authentic cowboy songs. Ritter, more interested in music, did not take a degree; for a time he was president of the Men's Glee Club at the university. He also attended Northwestern University for one year in 1929 before he began singing western and mountain songs on radio station KPRC in Houston in 1929. The following year he was with a musical troupe touring the South and the Midwest; by 1931 he was in New York and had joined the Theatre Guild. His role in Green Grow the Lilacs (predecessor to the musical Oklahoma ) drew attention to the young "cowboy," and he became the featured singer with the Madison Square Garden Rodeo in 1932. Further recognition led to his starring in one of the first western radio programs to be featured in New York, "The Lone Star Rangers." His early appeal to New Yorkers as the embodiment of a Texas cowboy, in spite of his roots in the rural southern music tradition, undoubtedly led to his first movie contract in 1936. Tex appeared in eighty-five movies, including seventy-eight Westerns, and was ranked among the top ten money-making stars in Hollywood for six years. Although his movies owed much to the genre begun by other singing cowboys such as Gene Autry , Ritter used traditional folk songs in his movies rather than the modern "western" ditties. Films such as Arizona Frontier (1940), The Utah Trail (1938), and Roll Wagons Roll (1939) earned him a reputation for ambitious plots and vigorous action not always found in low-budget Westerns. Tex Ritter's successful recordings, which began with "Rye Whiskey" in 1931, included over the years "High Noon" (1952), "Boll Weevil" (1945), "Wayward Wind," "Hillbilly Heaven," and "You Are My Sunshine" (1946). Ranch Party , a television series featuring Ritter, ran from 1959 to 1962. His version of “High Noon” from the highly-acclaimed movie High Noon won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1953. He was married to Dorothy Fay Southworth on June 14, 1941; they were the parents of two sons. His younger son, John, became well-known through his television shows, Three's Company and Hearts Afire . In 1964 Tex Ritter was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, only the fifth person to be so honored; he also served as president of the Country Music Association from 1963 to 1965 and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1965. In 1970 he made an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate seat from Tennessee. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 2, 1974; funeral services were held in Nederland, Texas, near Port Neches, and he was buried at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in nearby Port Neches. In 1980 he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The Texas Ritter Museum opened on October 18, 1992, in Carthage, Texas, (in Panola County) and contained memorabilia from his career. In 1998 he was an inaugural inductee into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame , also located in Carthage, and in 2003 both the Texas Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame were housed together. Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is also honored in the Museum of the Gulf Coast’s Music Hall of Fame in Port A

Tsha Handbook →

Reeves, Jim

1924

(August 30, 1924 - July 31, 1964) Born in Galloway, James Travis Reeves played professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league team until an injury forced him to abandon that career. He became a radio disc jockey and formed a country western band. Joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1955, he became a world famous singer. Known fondly as "Gentleman Jim," Reeves was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967, three years after he died in a plane crash. (1996)

Historical Marker → · 3.6 mi away

Carthage Book Club

1907

IN 1907, TWELVE AREA WOMEN, INCLUDING TEXAS’ FIRST WOMAN SENATOR, MARGIE NEAL, ESTABLISHED THE CIRCULATING BOOK CLUB. FOCUSING ON CIVIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN ADDITION TO LITERACY, THE CLUB’S FIRST MAJOR PROJECT WAS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CARTHAGE’S FIRST SIDEWALK, CONNECTING DOWNTOWN TO THE SANTA FE RAILWAY. IN 1922, MEMBERS ESTABLISHED A CLUBHOUSE AND LADIES’ RESTROOM, WHICH MET THE NEEDS OF RURAL WOMEN VISITING TOWN FOR TRADE AND BUSINESS. THE CLUB ALSO OPENED A PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAINTAINED A RED CROSS WORKROOM DURING WORLD WARS I AND II, AND LED BEAUTIFICATION PROJECTS, INCLUDING REVITALIZATION OF THE TOWN SQUARE. TODAY, THE CARTHAGE BOOK CLUB CONTINUES TO PROMOTE THE CIVIC, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY.

Historical Marker →

Sports in Carthage

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 4A · Football · 2016–2025

Carthage Bulldogs — 4A Football State Champions — seven titles in a decade

Most recent: 49–21 over West Orange-Stark · 2025 Class 4A-DII final

Deep in the East Texas pines, Carthage is what a football town looks like when the standard never slips. The Bulldogs won seven state championships from 2016 to 2025 — 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025 — moving between 4A's two divisions and beating whoever the bracket sent.

The wins ranged from statement to surgical: a 70–14 demolition of Gilmer in 2020, two finals against Waco La Vega (42–28 in 2019, 28–14 in 2024), and a 49–21 close-out over West Orange-Stark in 2025. Running back Keaontay Ingram carried the program's colors on to Texas and the NFL.

State titles

7 (2016–2025)

Most recent

2025, 49–21

Class

Biggest final

70–14 (2020)

Key Players

Keaontay Ingram — Running back — Texas, then the NFL

The moment

The 2020 final wasn't close: Carthage 70, Gilmer 14 — a title game turned into a track meet.

Sources: Wikipedia · UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Carthage

150 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

The Giant Under Carthage
Beneath Carthage lies one of North America's great natural-gas fields. Gas was first struck here in 1936, when drillers tapped the Pettit formation about 6,000 feet down. Real production waited until 1944, when the…
Tex Ritter
Deep in the East Texas piney woods, Panola County put a singing cowboy on a Hollywood horse. Tex Ritter grew up on a farm right here, born in 1905 — and he learned his cowboy songs not out on the range but in a…
Tex Ritter Museum at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
Carthage, in the East Texas piney woods, built a whole museum inside a fake movie theater — and it's all for one man, Tex Ritter, one of the most famous singing cowboys who ever rode across a screen. Step in and you'll…
Carthage, TX
Carthage, Texas, has a rich history that began in 1847, two years after Texas joined the United States. During the Civil War, many from Carthage and Panola County fought as Confederate soldiers, while African-American…
How Carthage Got Its Name
Panola County was created in 1846 from parts of Shelby and Harrison counties, and a settlement called Pulaski, on the east bank of the Sabine River, served as its first temporary seat. In 1848 commissioners chose a spot…
Reeves-McMillan Cemetery · Historical Marker
You're driving through Panola County, where the Reeves-McMillan Cemetery stands as a chronicle of local history. It began as a burial place for the McMillan family and friends in the late 1830s, with the first headstone…
First United Methodist Church of Carthage · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Carthage. Organized in 1855, this congregation held its first services in the Masonic Hall and bought this property in 1859. Their first frame church…
Neal, Margie · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
(1875-1971) A native of Panola County, Margie Elizabeth Neal began her career as a teacher in 1893. She became editor and owner of the East Texas Register newspaper in 1904. A respected educator and leader in the woman…
Carthage Book Club · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
IN 1907, TWELVE AREA WOMEN, INCLUDING TEXAS’ FIRST WOMAN SENATOR, MARGIE NEAL, ESTABLISHED THE CIRCULATING BOOK CLUB. FOCUSING ON CIVIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN ADDITION TO LITERACY, THE CLUB’S FIRST MAJOR…
Anderson, Jonathan · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Carthage, and right here is a spot named for Jonathan Anderson, a man who saw Texas history unfold. Born in Kentucky, he came to Texas when it was still part of Mexico. He fought for Texas…
Panola Watchman · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Carthage, and right here is the birthplace of a Texas newspaper that kept folks informed for over a century. The Panola Watchman rolled off the press for the first time on July 2, 1873, thanks to…
First Christian Church of Carthage · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Christian Church of Carthage. Gospel meetings in the late 1880s led to its organization, with a lot deeded in 1890 and a building finished the next year. A new sanctuary opened in 1947…

Show all 150 nearby places

Panola County Jail, Old · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Old Panola County Jail, a building that stood guard over Carthage for over sixty years. Completed in 1891, this two-story brick structure was designed by J. N. Carnes with a striking Italianate…
Central Baptist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Central Baptist Church in Carthage. Organized in 1901 with 17 members, it grew over the decades, building its first sanctuary in 1911 and a larger one in 1949. The church has sponsored missions and…
Mount Zion C. M. E. Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Carthage, and just off the road is Mount Zion C. M. E. Church. This congregation has roots stretching back to November 2, 1870, when it was founded by Methodist Bishop Enoch M. Marvin and five…
First Baptist Church of Carthage · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Carthage. Organized in April 1858 with Reverend J. H. Whitmore as its first pastor, the congregation disbanded during the Civil War. It was reorganized in 1867…
Neal, Margie Elizabeth · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mary "Margie" Elizabeth Neal, first woman in the Texas Senate, was born near Clayton, Texas, on April 20, 1875. She was the second of four children of William Lafayette and Martha (Gholston) Neal. She lived in Carthage…
Rowe, James · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, and right here is the site of the Old Center Cemetery, established by James Rowe in 1856. But Rowe wasn't just a local landowner; he was a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto! Born…
Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Carthage, Texas, right now, and you're passing by a shrine to Texas music history. <break time="400ms"/> It's the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum. <break time="400ms"/>…
Anderson, Hannah English Payne · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, near Carthage. Right here, in what is now Panola County, Hannah English Payne Anderson made her mark. She moved to Texas in 1825, eventually receiving a large land grant. But her…
Panola College · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Carthage, the county seat of Panola County. Right here, a college was born out of the post-World War II boom, fueled by returning veterans and the GI Bill. It started as Panola County Junior…
Carthage, TX · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Carthage, the county seat of Panola County. This town's story really starts back in 1846, when Texas decided to carve out this county. The first temporary county seat was a place called Pulaski,…
Collins, Jasper · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, near Carthage, where Jasper Collins was born back in 1870. He was a lawyer, a newspaper editor, and even served a term in the Texas legislature representing this very county. But…
Holland, Devereaux Dunlap · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, the heart of East Texas, where Devereaux Dunlap Holland built a life and a fortune. He arrived in Texas in the 1840s, settling in Carthage by 1850. Holland was a prosperous farmer…
Pollard, Claude · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, and right here in Carthage, a prominent lawyer named Claude Pollard got his start. Born in 1874, Pollard was admitted to the bar in 1895 and quickly rose through the ranks, serving…
The Friendly Undertaker and the Widow in the Freezer · 0.9 mi
The story that made Carthage a modern legend is a bizarre one. In the 1990s, the town's assistant funeral director was a man named Bernie Tiede. He was beloved—he sang in the church choir, directed community theater,…
Engineering an Energy Capital · 0.9 mi
As you drive around Carthage, you're traveling across a massive, invisible machine. This is the Carthage Gas Field, one of the largest natural gas deposits in the United States. Its discovery was geology, but its…
East Texas's Grand Ole Opry · 0.9 mi
Carthage may be the 'Gas Capital,' but for music lovers, it’s the capital of classic Texas country. This area produced two monumental talents: Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves. Tex Ritter was the quintessential singing cowboy…
The Old Panola County Jail · 0.9 mi
If you're near the courthouse square, you might notice an imposing brick building that looks like a small fortress. That's the old Panola County Jail, and it's been standing since 1891. J. N. Carnes designed it: two…
UIL 4A Football State Champions — 7 titles · 1.7 mi
Carthage High School (Carthage, TX): Most recent: 49-21 over West Orange-Stark · 2025 4A Division 2 final.
Carthage - 2025 Texas 4A Division II state football champion · 1.7 mi · Sports News
You're near Carthage High School in Carthage. Last December, they took down West Orange-Stark forty-nine to twenty-one to win the Texas 4A Division II state football championship. They wear that crown until this…
Moorman, Charles Watt · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Watt Moorman, a leader in the Regulator-Moderator War , son of Charles Hancock and Sophia (Maghee) Moorman, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, around 1817. His parents settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Columbus,…
Ritter, Woodward Maurice [Tex] · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tex Ritter, country singer and movie star, son of James Everett and Elizabeth (Matthews) Ritter, was born Woodward Maurice Ritter on January 12, 1905, in Murvaul, Panola County. Ritter's signature as a student at the…
Rosser, Thomas Lafayette · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, Texas, and right here is where a young Thomas Lafayette Rosser made his mark. Born in Virginia in 1836, he led his family's wagon train to this very county when he was just…
Bethany, TX (Panola County) · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bethany is on the Louisiana state line and U.S. Highway 79 twenty-two miles northeast of Carthage in northeastern Panola County. The site was first settled around 1840. The community, which grew up as a stopping point…
Bullock, Uriah Irwin · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Uriah Irwin Bullock, soldier, was born in Georgia in 1808, the son of Batson and Comfort (Turner) Bullock. In 1835 Bullock was living in Macon, Georgia; he helped organize the Georgia Battalion for the Texas Revolution…
Gourdneck, TX (Panola County) · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gourdneck is a small rural community located near Toledo Bend Reservoir in far southeastern Panola County. This early settlement had begun by the 1830s and provided an important stop for travelers immigrating into East…
Allison, John · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, Texas, and right here is the origin of its name. Judge John Allison, who'd moved here from Mississippi, became the first chief justice of this new county in 1846. He chose the name…
De Berry, Alfred Wesley · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, Texas, where Alfred Wesley De Berry, a lawyer and politician, raised a unique Confederate cavalry unit. Known as the Texas Lancers, this company was officially called into service…
Panola County · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, right on the border with Louisiana. This area was a hotbed of territorial disputes for decades. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1806</say-as>, after the U.S. bought…
Fair Play, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Fair Play, a farming community at the junction of U.S. Highway 79 and Farm roads 124 and 1251, eleven miles west of Carthage in western Panola County, is one of the oldest settlements in the area. The site occupies part…
Gary, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gary is on Farm Road 10 ten miles south of Carthage in southwest Panola County. About 1844 or 1845 the first families began to move into the area. J. H. Thomas arrived first and built a home that was a longtime…
Long Branch, TX (Panola County) · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, not far from Carthage, heading southwest on Farm Road 348. You're passing through what was once Long Branch. It was named for a sandy arm of the Murvaul Bayou and established before…
Clayton, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Clayton, at the junction of State Highway 315 and Farm Road 1970, sixteen miles southwest of Carthage in southwestern Panola County, was first settled around 1845 by Jacob Cariker, a native of Georgia. Cariker built a…
Deadwood, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Deadwood, previously known as Linus, is on Farm Road 2517 some ten miles east of Carthage in eastern Panola County. The area was first settled in 1837 by Adam LaGrone and his family, who built a homestead not far from…
Reeves, Jim · 3.6 mi
You're driving through Carthage, Panola County, the birthplace of a country music legend: Jim Reeves. Born in Galloway in 1924, Reeves first chased a dream on the baseball diamond, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals'…
Pisgah United Methodist Church · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Pisgah United Methodist Church. Organized in 1848, early services were held in homes or at summer camp meetings. A sanctuary was built at the Old Camp Ground site, serving the…
Respess Family and Respess Creek · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Panola County, near Carthage, where the stream you're crossing is known as Respess Creek. In the 1870s, Richard Ormand Respess and his wife Nannie Lois Williams settled here. Richard taught at the…
Rehobeth United Methodist Church · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Rehobeth United Methodist Church near Carthage. Services first began here in 1878, and a sanctuary was built on land donated by the Biggs family. That original structure served the congregation for a…
Anderson Cemetery · 4.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Anderson Cemetery. ANDERSON CEMETERY SITUATED ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF CARTHAGE ON A HILL SHADED BY LARGE TREES, ANDERSON CEMETERY IS THE BURIAL PLACE FOR MANY OF PANOLA COUNTY’S EARLY…
Deputy Chris Dickerson Memorial Highway · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
Farm to Market Road Ten in Panola County is the Deputy Sheriff Chris Dickerson Memorial Highway. William Christopher Dickerson, known as Chris, was a United States Army veteran who served eight years with the Panola…
Antioch Cemetery · 4.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Antioch Cemetery near Carthage. The oldest tombstone here dates back to 1849, though the land wasn't officially set aside until 1875. Many early Panola County families like the Millers, Holmes, and…
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1871 by five charter members. The original sanctuary was built in 1876 on land donated for the church and its cemetery. The current church…
Holland Quarters Cemetery · 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Holland Quarters Cemetery, a place with deep roots in Panola County history. After the Civil War, Spearman Holland deeded this land to former slaves, creating a vital community hub. It wasn't just a…
Cedar Grove Baptist Church · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the area where settlers established a community called Snap after the Civil War. In 1905, members of Six Mile Church organized the Baptist Church of Christ at Old Six Mile Church, which later…
Beauchamp, Joseph Benedict · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Joseph Benedict Beauchamp, a soldier who fought for Texas's independence. Born in Kentucky in 1814, Beauchamp came to Texas and served in the Army of Texas in 1835. He even…
Tennessee Methodist Church · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Timpson, where the Tennessee Methodist Church has roots stretching back to 1857. Back then, settlers from Tennessee organized a Union church, named Mount Carmel, to serve Methodists, Baptists, and…
Tennessee Presbyterian Church · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Tennessee Presbyterian Church. Organized in 1857, this church was originally known as Mount Carmel. It was the first Presbyterian congregation established in Shelby County. A one-room log cabin…
Ebenezer United Methodist Church · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Ebenezer United Methodist Church. This congregation was organized nearby in 1843, predating Panola County itself. In 1872, land was deeded here for the church, a school, and a cemetery,…
New Prospect Cemetery · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what was once the Scruggs community, where this cemetery began in 1870. It started with a donation of land for a church and graveyard by homesteaders Robert Alexander Craig and Martha Jane Freeland.…
Grand Bluff Cemetery · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near the site of Grand Bluff Cemetery, once serving a bustling pioneer community and ferry crossing on the Sabine River. The earliest known burials here date back to 1838. Though the Grand Bluff…
Youngblood, Isaac R. · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Panola County, near Beckville. Keep an eye out for the site associated with Isaac R. Youngblood, a pioneer who arrived in Texas before 1846. Youngblood wasn't just a settler; he helped lay out…
Rock Hill United Methodist Church · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Rock Hill United Methodist Church. Organized as a Baptist church in 1887, it affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1895 and moved to its current location in 1940. Circuit…
Murvaul, TX · 9.1 mi
Murvaul. The name itself rolls off the tongue like the slow current of the creek it’s named for, Murvaul Creek, that eventually finds its way to the Sabine. You wouldn't think a place so quiet could have a story to…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Beckville (Beckville) · 9.1 mi
Beckville (Beckville, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Wesdon Harris (2 HR).
Booty, Augustus James · 9.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, not far from Beckville, where Augustus 'Gus' Booty once taught school and later served as a legislator. But before all that, Gus Booty was a soldier. In 1861, he joined the Tenth Texas…
Beckville, TX · 9.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Panola County, and right here is Beckville. It's a town that owes its very existence to a bit of a standoff. Back in 1886, the railroad decided to build right through this area. But the folks in…
First Baptist Church of Beckville · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Beckville. Organized in 1886 as Mount Pleasant Baptist Church with 12 members, they soon built a sanctuary on donated land. The congregation has been known as…
Beckville, TX · 9.2 mi
Beckville, Texas, a community nestled in the piney woods of East Texas, has seen its share of notable individuals pass through its streets and leave their mark. Perhaps most prominently, the world of country music has a…
Priced themselves out of the railroad · 9.2 mi
If you could travel back to 1885, Beckville wouldn't be here. It would be a mile north of here — a farming community already named for Matthew W. Beck, who settled the area around 1850. Then in 1886 the future came…
The Singing Cowboy's East Texas Roots · 9.2 mi
As you drive through this part of Panola County, you’re in the homeland of a true American icon: Tex Ritter. Born just down the road in Murvaul in 1905, the man who would become one of Hollywood’s most famous singing…
The Iron Compass: Engineering a Town · 9.2 mi
Beckville is a clean example of how a rail line, not a town plan, decides where a community sits. When the Texas, Sabine Valley and Northwestern Railway pushed through Panola County in 1886, its surveyors were solving…
Black Gold and Brown Coal · 9.2 mi
The land around Beckville holds a two-part story of energy, and it doesn't run the way you'd guess. The first chapter is black gold. In October of 1936 drillers hit gas and condensate at five thousand six hundred and…
Deputy Chris Dickerson Memorial Highway · 9.3 mi · Historical Marker
Honors Panola County Deputy Chris Dickerson, Army veteran and volunteer Carthage firefighter, killed December 31, 2019, during a 2 a.m. New Year's Eve traffic stop on FM-10. Honorary segment runs FM-10 from Loop 436 in…
Beckville United Methodist Church · 9.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beckville, the site of the United Methodist Church. Methodist services first began in this area back in 1844, served by the San Augustine Circuit. The congregation built its first sanctuary in…
Church Bethel · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Church Bethel, organized back in September of 1843 by Reverend Isaac Reed. The congregation originally met two miles northwest of here before moving to this spot in 1874. The original…
Shady Grove Baptist Church · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the DeBerry area, passing the site of Shady Grove Baptist Church. Established by 1880, the congregation built its first wooden structure and later replaced it with a second frame building that…
Two Fathers Remembered on Highway Three Fifteen · 10.1 mi
State Highway Three Fifteen, from the western Panola County line to Carthage, is the Hamby-Webb Memorial Highway. It carries two names because it remembers two men. Kaleb Hamby was thirty four. Gabriel Webb, who went by…
Allison Chapel United Methodist Church · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Allison Chapel United Methodist Church. Reverend Littleton Fowler is believed to have organized this congregation between 1837 and 1839. The church was originally named Bethesda, but…
Woods Methodist Church · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Woods, Texas, where the Woods Methodist Church stands. Organized before 1858 as Concord Methodist, the present site was deeded in 1876, and this building was erected by the community that winter. The…
Deadwood Cemetery · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Deadwood Cemetery, the final resting place for early Panola County settlers. It began as a family burial ground in 1847 when Christeena LaGrone was laid to rest here. Though not officially a public…
Woods New Hope Baptist Church · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the historic Woods community near Tenaha. In 1855, residents established a Baptist church here, initially sharing a building with Methodists and a schoolhouse. The congregation built its own…
Sabine River · 11.9 mi
The river under Highway 59 here got its name from a tree. Spanish explorers riding through in the early 1700s saw bald cypress crowding the lower banks and called the water Rio de Sabinas, roughly, river of the…
Webb, Walter Prescott · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Walter Prescott Webb, a titan of American history! Born near here in 1888, Webb's fascination with the frontier, especially the stark landscapes of West Texas, fueled a legendary…
Bell-Fountain Cemetery · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving by the Bell-Fountain Cemetery, a final resting place for early Panola County settlers. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Beulah P. Hough, who died in 1850, though a supplemental plate identifies…
Waldrop Cemetery · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waldrop Cemetery, which local history says began in 1872. Jemima Guest Gentry died that year and was buried here, at her family's request, on land granted by landowners James C. and Lucretia Harris…
Rowe, James · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Panola County, passing the final resting place of James Rowe. He arrived in Texas from North Carolina, ready to fight for its independence in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>.…
Old Center Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Old Center Cemetery, a final resting place that's been serving this community since 1856. That's when James Rowe, a pioneer and veteran of the Texas War for Independence, donated the first land. His…
Sugar Hill Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sugar Hill Cemetery, a final resting place for folks since the mid-1800s. It's believed that Elijah Wyatt, who came to Texas in 1838, is buried here, with his son-in-law reserving land for the…
Martin Cemetery · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Martin Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to around 1833, when Daniel Martin and his family settled here. It's adjacent to the old Trammel's Trace. The oldest documented burial is from…
Midyett Springs · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Midyett Springs, once a bustling health resort. Settlers used these waters before 1850, but by the 1880s, it was a thriving community named for Spencer Midyett, who opened the post…
DeBerry Baptist Church · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through DeBerry, where the DeBerry Baptist Church has been a fixture for over a century. It grew from the Bell-Fountain Baptist Church, organized before the Civil War. After their chapel burned in 1880,…
DeBerry · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through DeBerry, a town that started as a hub for industry back in 1850. It was built around a sawmill and grist mill, serving cotton planters with markets and gins. The town is named for Colonel Alfred…
Woodley Cemetery · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Harrison County, heading past the Woodley Cemetery. Wingate Woodley arrived here in 1839, defying his father's pleas to return to Georgia due to the area's lawlessness. But his family followed in…
Tatum Cemetery · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Tatum Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to the Civil War. It began as a private family burial ground for Albert Tatum, a pioneer settler. His son William was the first interred…
Bracken Cemetery · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bracken Cemetery. Pioneer settlers Thomas and Mary Bracken set aside part of their land here as a burial ground in the 1830s. The earliest marked grave is from 1876, and Dan Briggs…
Tatum, TX · 15.2 mi
In the 1840s, Tatum, Texas, was settled by Albert Tatum and his second wife, Mary C. They built a large plantation in 1848. The town's history took a turn in 1885 when the Santa Fe Railway came through, dividing the…
Tatum, TX · 15.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Tatum, a town with roots stretching back to the 1840s. It all started with Albert and Mary C. Tatum, who built a massive plantation right here. Legend says the mansion was so grand, its boundaries…
Liberty Missionary Baptist Church · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Liberty Missionary Baptist Church. Organized in the Sugar Hill community in 1866, it was accepted into the Mt. Zion Baptist Association just two years later. The congregation grew…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Tatum (Tatum) · 15.4 mi
Tatum (Tatum, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Grant Adcock (0.461 avg, 4 HR); Colt Bullard (0.448 avg, 4 HR); Ty Stephens (3 HR); Keaton Keel (2 HR); Cole Wood (2…
A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 15.4 mi
This road carries a Blue Star Memorial Highway designation, one of a string of them across Texas. The name comes from a family tradition. When someone in a household was serving in the armed forces, the family displayed…
Tatum · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Tatum, a town with roots stretching back to the 1840s. Wealthy Alabama planter Albert Tatum settled right here, near the Trammel's Trace and Grand Bluff Road crossing. His plantation home became a…
First United Methodist Church of Tenaha · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Tenaha, the site of the First United Methodist Church. This congregation was established in 1886 by Methodists from nearby communities, helping to build this railhead town. They constructed their…
Johnston, Franklin Lewis · 15.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, not far from Tenaha, where Franklin Lewis Johnston made his home. After serving as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, Johnston returned to Shelby County to practice law. But his…
Tenaha, TX · 15.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Tenaha, Texas, a town born from the railroad boom. Back in 1885, the Houston, East and West Texas Railway was pushing through Shelby County, and this spot was chosen as a crucial shipping point.…
The Regulator-Moderator War · 15.8 mi
The quiet landscape you're passing through was once the battleground for one of America's largest and most violent feuds. Before Tenaha was a town, this corner of Shelby County descended into chaos during the…
The Highway Forfeiture Scandal · 15.8 mi
The highways passing through Tenaha, U.S. 59 and 84, became the center of a national controversy in the late 2000s. A practice known as civil asset forfeiture turned into what critics called 'policing for profit.' Local…
Tenaha, TX · 15.8 mi
Tenaha, a town in Shelby County, Texas, has a history marked by a significant legal event. In 2009, the town became embroiled in a class action lawsuit due to allegations that local police were improperly seizing cash,…
The Engineering of 'The Rabbit' · 15.8 mi
As you drive through Tenaha, you'll cross a set of railroad tracks that are the very reason this town exists. But this wasn't just any railroad. This was the Houston, East and West Texas Railway, built in the 1880s and…
Ramah Cemetery · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the heart of the Ramah community, a place that started as a humble homestead in the early 1870s. William Tell Pou and his wife Mollie were the first settlers here. They helped found Ramah Baptist…
Folklore: 'What is a Tenaha?' · 15.8 mi
Say the name out loud and you're already halfway into the folklore: Tenaha. It comes from Tenehaw, the name the Mexican government gave this district back in 1824, before anybody called it Shelby County. But the reason…
Buckner Cemetery · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Buckner Cemetery near Pinehill. This burial ground tells the story of a family that settled here before 1850, arriving from Georgia. John S. Buckner was laid to rest here in 1870, but it was his…
Harmony Hill Cemetery · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Harmony Hill Cemetery, where the oldest grave dates back to 1844. That's the resting place of J. W. Hall, marked by a large rock when the land was first donated by John W. Kuykendall in 1852. Over…
George Washington Green · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the heart of what was once the Bobo community, established on land owned by George Washington Green. He arrived in Texas in 1878, and by 1885, he was buying up land along the new Houston East &…
Adams Cemetery · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Logan, and just off the road is Adams Cemetery. Lorenzo H. Adams, a former constable and justice of the peace, donated this land in the 1880s after his young daughter Georgia Anne died. Her grave…
Bethel United Methodist Church · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethel United Methodist Church, a community that began as a camp meeting near the middle of the 1800s. Families gathered here for ten-day revivals, with a nearby spring providing water…
Woodley House · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Woodley House, a home with roots stretching back to the 1840s when the Woodley family first settled this part of Harrison County. William Lawrence Woodley built this farmhouse right here in 1873.…
Bridges Cemetery · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bridges Cemetery, a final resting place that began with a pioneer family's promise. Eli Buckner left land for public burial in 1861 after his wife Eliza died here. Later, Reverend Bridges bought the…
Anderson, Bailey · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Elysian Fields, and just ahead is the final resting place of Bailey Anderson. This wasn't just any settler; Anderson was a veteran of the American Revolution, fighting the British and Indians for…
Sholar Cemetery · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sholar Cemetery, a place marked by a heartbreaking tragedy in the summer of 1854. Six cousins, all between the ages of one and ten, died here, likely from the same illness. It's a somber reminder…
Blossom Hill United Methodist Church · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Blossom Hill United Methodist Church, established in 1879. It was the first church in the Chapman community, originally named Pleasant Hill Methodist Episcopal Church. For many years, this church…
Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. Chartered in 1880 with eight members, this congregation was organized by Elders William H. Gresham and J. R. Alexander. Pastor Gresham, a…
2023 UIL 2A Division 1 Football State Champions · 17.6 mi
Timpson School (Timpson, TX): Most recent: 49-7 over Tolar · 2023 2A Division 1 final.
Spivey · 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Spivey, a town that sprang up thanks to the railroad. Founded by Civil War veteran James Jackson Spivey, the community really took off when the Houston East & West Texas Railroad built…
Knight, Raymond Lee · 17.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
Raymond Lee Knight, Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Timpson, Texas, on July 15, 1922. His family later moved to Houston, where he graduated from John Reagan High School in 1940. He entered the United States Army…
Timpson · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Timpson, a town that sprang to life in 1885, thanks to the railroad. Paul Bremond and investors planned a line from Houston to Shreveport, and a railroad official named Paul C. Timpson laid out…
Booker T. Washington School · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Booker T. Washington School, a name given in 1954 to the Elysian Fields Colored School. This school, founded way back in 1870, was a cornerstone of the community, offering everything…
Patrick, John T. C. · 18.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Patrick Community, right here in Henderson. Back in 1854, John Campbell Patrick, his wife Eleanor, and their five children packed up and moved here from South Carolina. Patrick bought…
Mt. Zion Cemetery · 18.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mt. Zion Cemetery. It started as part of the Golden family land, with the Crenshaws burying a son here in the 1840s. The land was later deeded to the Mt. Zion Methodist Church and Cemetery trustees…
Buena Vista Cemetery · 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Buena Vista Cemetery, serving a community organized way back in 1848. Joseph Penn Burns donated the land, and the earliest marked grave is from 1851. The cemetery is still a landmark for the…
Site of Truitt Community · 18.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through East Texas, near Joaquin. Look around for remnants of a community called Truitt, also known as Willow Grove. It sprang up around a store opened by James Truitt about 1840. Truitt wasn't just any…
Patrick Community · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Rusk County, passing the site of what was once the Patrick Community. It all started in 1854 when the Patrick brothers, James, John, and Minor, led Presbyterian families from South Carolina to…
Richard Brown · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the story of Richard Brown, a Republic of Texas soldier who saw action in 1836. He later joined the Mier Expedition in 1842, was captured, and escaped a firing squad by drawing a white bean, enduring…
Pine Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Pine Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church, organized around 1850 by the Rev. Archibald Watkins. The congregation first met in a log cabin near Martin's Creek. This building was…
From Lignite Seams to Light Switches · 19.1 mi
As you near Tatum, you'll likely see the massive Martin Lake Power Plant, an engineering marvel that turns rock into electricity for a couple of million homes. For decades it began in surface mines, where giant machines…
Friday Night Dynasty · 19.1 mi
In Texas, high school football is more than a game, and in Tatum, it’s a dynasty. For a small Class 3A school, the Tatum Eagles have built a football program that rivals the giants. Drive past the high school, and…
Tatum, TX · 19.1 mi
Tatum was founded in the 1840s by Albert Tatum and his wife, Mary C. (Rippetoe) Tatum. In 1848, they built a large plantation in the area. The town was officially divided into individual lots in 1885 when the Santa Fe…
TTU, TX · 19.1 mi
Lubbock, Texas, and by extension, Texas Tech University – TTU – owe their names to a remarkable figure: Thomas Saltus Lubbock. He wasn't a local rancher or a dusty pioneer, but a Confederate Colonel and brother of…
The "Rabbit" Railroad · 19.2 mi
The railroad that made Timpson had a nickname: the Rabbit. It was the Houston, East and West Texas — a three-foot narrow-gauge line whose best-known locomotive earned the name by the sheer number of times it jumped…
The Ancient Swamps That Power Texas · 19.2 mi
As you drive near Timpson, you're passing over an enormous store of energy: lignite coal. This isn't the hard black coal of Appalachia. It's soft and brownish, formed from vegetation that piled up in coastal swamps…
International Boundary Marker · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Panola County, and you're passing a piece of history that settled a fight between nations! For centuries, France and Spain, and later the U.S. and the Republic of Texas, argued over where the…
The Art of the Hog Call · 19.2 mi
If you're in Timpson in late June, the whole town is out in the street. That's Timpson Frontier Days, dreamed up in 1962 by Ben Parnell and Ed Hooper to put the pioneer years back in front of people, and it has run…
Timpson, TX · 19.2 mi
Timpson was established in 1885 with the arrival of the Houston, East and West Texas Railway. This event marked the beginning of the city's development and set the stage for its growth as a significant location in the…
Strong, John and Mary Ann · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Rusk County, passing the resting place of John and Mary Ann Strong. These Georgia natives arrived in Texas around 1849, becoming vital pioneer settlers in this eastern county. They didn't just…
Strong Cemetery · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Strong Cemetery, originally established for the family of pioneer John Strong. The earliest marked grave here belongs to his grandson, John A. Young, who died in 1853. The cemetery was officially…
Church Hill United Methodist Church · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Church Hill United Methodist Church. This congregation organized way back in 1839 with the Rev. Claugh Waterfield as pastor. The church building itself went up in 1879, with about a…
King-Oates Cemetery · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the King-Oates Cemetery, established around 1853. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2006.
Oates Cemetery · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oates Cemetery. OATES CEMETERY ESTABLISHED 1863 HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2012
Caledonia Methodist Church · 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mount Enterprise, near the Caledonia community. This marker commemorates the Caledonia Methodist Church, which began organizing in the late 1860s. Dr. Lovick P. Garrison, John Barham, and J. Harvy…
Brachfield · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be a community known by many names, right here near Minden. It started as Gibsontown, then became Murval when a post office opened way back in 1853. By the 1890s, folks were calling…

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