The story that put Glen Rose on the map began in 1909, when a schoolboy exploring the Paluxy River found massive, three-toed footprints hardened in the stone riverbed. Locals knew about them, calling them 'giant man tracks,' but their true origin was a mystery. The tracks remained a local curiosity until 1938, when paleontologist Roland T. Bird from the American Museum of Natural History in New York came to investigate. He was stunned. Not only were there tracks from a giant, two-legged carnivore, Acrocanthosaurus, but right alongside them were the wider, elephant-like prints of a massive, long-necked herbivore, Sauroposeidon. It was the world's first discovery of a clear predator-and-prey trackway. Bird spent months here, cutting huge slabs of the track-filled limestone from the river and shipping them to museums, finally proving to the world that dinosaurs once roamed Texas.

RoadyGoat →

Engineering an Atomic Giant RoadyGoat

Those twin domes you might see on the horizon near Glen Rose are the containment buildings for the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, a marvel of 20th-century engineering. Inside each dome, a process called nuclear fission splits uranium atoms, releasing an immense amount of heat. This heat boils water to create high-pressure steam. The steam is then channeled to spin massive turbines, which in turn drive generators to produce electricity for millions of Texas homes. But all that heat needs a cooling system. That's why engineers built a 3,275-acre man-made lake right next to the plant in 1979, long known as Squaw Creek Reservoir and officially renamed Comanche Creek Reservoir in 2022. It exists for one purpose: to supply a continuous flow of cool water to the plant and absorb the waste heat. The entire facility is a precisely engineered system, linking nuclear physics, thermodynamics, and large-scale hydraulic engineering to keep the lights on across the state.

RoadyGoat →

The Whiskey Woods Capital of Texas RoadyGoat

During Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s, Glen Rose and the rugged hills of Somervell County earned a reputation for an industry that thrived in the shadows: moonshining. The area's geography was perfect for it. The rocky bluffs, dense cedar brakes, and hidden hollows provided excellent cover for illegal stills. Local corn was plentiful, and the limestone-filtered water from the creeks was said to produce a superior whiskey. For many cash-strapped farmers, 'shining' was a way to survive the hard economic times. It was an open secret, and the business became so widespread that Somervell County was known as the 'whiskey woods capital of Texas.' Federal revenue agents, or 'revenuers,' would occasionally raid the stills, leading to dramatic chases through the hills, but the industry was notoriously hard to stamp out. It’s a wild chapter of local history, when the county’s biggest export was quietly bottled and sold by moonlight.

RoadyGoat →

Dinosaur Valley State Park

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The Paluxy River bed near Glen Rose contains some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world, dating to approximately 113 million years ago.

Historical Marker → · 3.9 mi away

Barnard, Juana Josefina Cavasos

1844

Juana Cavasos Barnard, Indian captive, slaveowner, and pioneer in the area of present Somervell County, was born in Mexico to María Josefina Cavasos and was reportedly of Spanish and Italian lineage and a descendent of the Canary Islanders . Her family lived in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Her grandfather, Narciso Cavasos, had received the largest Spanish land grant in Texas. In 1848 she married Charles E. Barnard of Connecticut, considered the first permanent non-Indian settler in the area of present Somervell County. They had fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood. She had twenty-five grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. On August 15, 1844, Comanche Indians raided South Texas near the Rio Grande and captured Juana, who was then eighteen. One account reports that she was held captive for seven months, while another reports three years, but Juana's own testimony suggests she may have been captive less than a month. The Comanches visited the Tehuacana Creek Trading House operated by George Barnard in north central Texas. Barnard traded $300 in horses and merchandise for Juana. Shortly afterwards she married George's brother Charles. Charles Barnard has been recognized as having cordial relations with various Indian tribes. Juana noted that she lived in the Somervell County area for many months without seeing a White woman. The Barnards accumulated some wealth through landholdings, trade, and income from a gristmill. In 1849 Charles and George established a trading post to trade with Indians. Juana may have helped operate the trading post, since she stated that they kept their trading house for the Indians for fifteen or twenty years. Charles bought out George's share in 1859. That year the United States government moved the Indians from the Fort Belknap reservation to Oklahoma, and thus the Barnards' customers decreased. Using slave labor Barnard had a mill built in 1859-60, the first building at the site of present Glen Rose. Around 1860 he was considered an extensive slave owner. Juana apparently had one or several slaves in her household, since she noted they had "plenty of Negro slaves." In 1860 their real estate was valued at $50,000 and their personal estate at $60,400. In the early 1870s Charles sold the mill for $65,000. Charles and Juana's wealth declined in the 1890s. In their last years they resided in a small log house. When Charles died in 1900, Juana sold 200 acres to her children, but the bill of sale was not to take effect until her death, probably because she would have been homeless otherwise. Juana and Charles were considered social leaders. Juana acted as a midwife and had some skill with medicinal herbs. She was reportedly an excellent horsewoman, and at the ripe age of seventy-eight she still maintained a garden. She was one of the few Spanish-Mexican women known to be an Indian captive, and she gave oral testimony to her granddaughter Verdie Barnard Alison in 1900, entitled "My Life with the Indians." In it she discussed the day of her capture and described the violent deaths she witnessed. She noted that she was captured for purposes of trade. Juana is the subject of Juana, A Spanish Girl in Central Texas by Pearl Andrus, a fictional account based on interviews with descendants and research. Juana Cavasos Barnard died of natural causes on February 1, 1906.

Tsha Handbook →

Somervell County

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Somervell County is in north central Texas and is bisected by U.S. Highway 67 and State Highway 144. It comprises 188 square miles, the second-smallest area among Texas counties. Glen Rose, the principal town and county seat, is fifty-five miles southwest of Fort Worth. The county's center lies at 32°14' north latitude and 97°47' west longitude. The eastern half of the county is in the Grand Prairie region, while the western area is in the Cross Timbers . The primary soil type consists of very shallow, clayey soils in limestone. Other types include deep loamy and alluvial soils, especially along the river bottoms. Most of the land is used for range, though some is pasture and cropland. The only mineral resources are brick clay, limestone, road materials, and a small amount of natural gas. The overall terrain is generally rough with outcroppings of limestone. Native trees on the uplands include live oak, Spanish oak, mountain cedar, post oak, black jack, and mesquite . Cottonwood, pecan, bur oak, and black walnut can be found along the river bottoms. The elevation ranges from 600 to 1,200 feet. Three major streams traverse the county; the Brazos River winds through the eastern third, while the Paluxy River passes through the center and empties into the Brazos near its confluence with Squaw Creek. Temperatures range from a July average maximum of 98° F to a January average minimum of 32°. The average annual rainfall is 32.65 inches, and the growing season is 236 days long. More than 100 million years ago dinosaurs roamed the area that is now Somervell County. The Paluxy River has some of the best-preserved tracks found in the continental United States. Much of the excavation on these tracks was done by Roland T. Bird of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. That museum, the University of Texas, the Smithsonian Institution, and several local museums retain samples. Local efforts to protect and preserve tracks imbedded along the river resulted in the foundation of Dinosaur Valley State Park , a 1,523-acre facility formally dedicated in 1970. Prior to European settlement of North America, the area was inhabited by American Indians, particularly members of the Caddo groups and Tonkawas. The southern edge of the Wichita Confederacy of Caddos extended into this area, although the Tonkawas were the major tribal group. Apaches and Comanches came into the area periodically. The first permanent Anglo settler was Charles E. Barnard , who established an Indian trading post in the late 1840s with his brother, George Barnard , for whom George's Creek was named. Charles's wife, Juana Cavasos Barnard , was the granddaughter of Don Narciso Cavasos, recipient of the largest Spanish land grant in Texas. She had been captured by Comanches in South Texas and ransomed by the Barnards. Barnard's Mill, built in 1860, was the first building at the site that is now Glen Rose. The mill is still standing and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During most of the 1850s and early 1860s the Barnard's Mill settlement was a part of Johnson County. In 1866 the area was included in a new county, Hood, marked off entirely from Johnson County. Somervell County was established in 1875, when residents in southern Hood and northern Bosque counties petitioned for a new county because of their separation from markets and seats of government. The county, taken completely from Hood County, was named for Alexander Somervell , who led an expedition to Mexico under the Republic of Texas . The first and only county seat is Glen Rose, named in 1872. Other early communities included Wilcox, Rainbow, Nemo, and Glass. The census of 1880 indicated a population of 2,649, with only 132 in Glen Rose. At that time Somervell County had a black population of twenty-four. Glen Rose was the center of activity for the county during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. A Baptist college was organized in 1879 and sold to the Paluxy Baptist Associat

Tsha Handbook →

Dinosaur Tracks

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Formed 100,000,000 years ago, tracks of 3 kinds of dinosaurs are preserved in the limestone below Paluxy River. Types include Acrocanthosaurus (a meat-eater), Camptosaurus (plant-eater who left 3-toed bird-like tracks), and Pleurocoelus (a plant-eater who made huge 5-toed prints). For years following their discovery (about 1910), the tracks remained a novelty. When Paluxy River ran low, farmers caught catfish stranded in them. Excavations by a prominent museum and several universities in 1938 brought the tracks to the attention of the world. (1970)

Historical Marker →

Comanche Peak - Last Comanche Raid

1860

Comanche Peak served as a major landmark in Comanche territory, marking the boundary of the Comancheria empire that dominated the Southern Plains for over 150 years.

Historical Marker → · 3.1 mi away

Barnard, Charles E.

1848

Charles E. (Uncle Charley) Barnard, pioneer Indian trader, son of Henry B. Barnard, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, on August 10, 1823. At the age of twenty-one he joined his brother, George Barnard , at Tehuacana Trading Post near the site of present-day Waco and subsequently assisted him in operating it and other Indian trading posts along Central Texas rivers. In 1846 at Tehuacana Trading Post George Barnard ransomed a Comanche captive, Juana Cavasos ( see BARNARD, JUANA JOSEFINA CAVASOS ), daughter of a prominent Spanish family of Matamoros, Mexico. In 1848 Charles married her. In 1849 they established their home at Comanche Peak Trading House on the Brazos River in Hood County. To them were born fourteen children. In 1860 Barnard's Indian customers moved to reservations. He built a huge stone gristmill on the Paluxy River and, nearby, a family home. The town of Glen Rose grew up around it. In 1870 Charles sold the mill and moved back to the Brazos River location, where he had large landholdings. He was a literate gentleman who had one of the finest libraries on the frontier. He gave generously of himself and his considerable means to better his area of Texas. He is credited with contributing substantial funds and slave labor to the construction of housing for Acton Masonic Institute in Hood County. Barnard died at his home on June 22, 1900, and is buried beside Juana in the family plot near their first homesite.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Glen Rose

nature 4.0 mi away

Dinosaur Valley State Park

The Paluxy River cut down through the limestone here and exposed dinosaur tracks pressed into 113-million-year-old mud. You can wade out into the river in…

quirky 13.8 mi away

Brazos Drive-In Theatre

Granbury businessmen pooled local materials in 1952 and put up a drive-in on what was then the edge of town to lure people in. It opened June 5 with Robert…

food 24.6 mi away

Koffee Kup Family Restaurant

Hico institution on West 2nd Street, serving comfort plates and homemade pie for nearly 50 years. Named one of Texas Monthly's 40 Best Cafes.

day trip

Day Trip to Glen Rose 🦖 (FULL EPISODE) S8 E8

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Everything Near Glen Rose

226 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Barnard, Juana Josefina Cavasos · Tsha Handbook
Juana Cavasos Barnard, Indian captive, slaveowner, and pioneer in the area of present Somervell County, was born in Mexico to María Josefina Cavasos and was reportedly of Spanish and Italian lineage and a descendent of…
Somervell County · Tsha Handbook
Somervell County is in north central Texas and is bisected by U.S. Highway 67 and State Highway 144. It comprises 188 square miles, the second-smallest area among Texas counties. Glen Rose, the principal town and county…
Barnard, Charles E. · Tsha Handbook
Charles E. (Uncle Charley) Barnard, pioneer Indian trader, son of Henry B. Barnard, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, on August 10, 1823. At the age of twenty-one he joined his brother, George Barnard , at Tehuacana…
Bluegrass Jamboree · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Glen Rose, and right here is Oakdale Park, once known as the bluegrass capital of Texas! Back in 1972, park owners Alton and Geneva May, along with Thurman Winnett, kicked off the annual Bluegrass…
Glen Rose, TX · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Glen Rose, a town with roots stretching back to 1849. Charles Barnard set up a trading post near Comanche Peak, but it was his return in 1860 that really got things started. He built a mill, and…
Hart, Andrew Jackson · Tsha Handbook
Andrew Jackson (A. J.) Hart, farmer, stock raiser, Confederate officer, and jurist, was born in Scott County, Arkansas, on May 14, 1832, the son of Meredith and Mary (Riley) Hart. The Hart family immigrated to Texas in…
Dinosaur Tracks · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
Formed 100,000,000 years ago, tracks of 3 kinds of dinosaurs are preserved in the limestone below Paluxy River. Types include Acrocanthosaurus (a meat-eater), Camptosaurus (plant-eater who left 3-toed bird-like tracks),…
First National Bank · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the building that started life as a saloon back in 1896, built by A. P. Humphreys. The upstairs hosted dances and stage shows, but it became the First National Bank in 1902, serving customers like…
Campbell Building · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Campbell Building, constructed by T.B. Campbell and his wife Julia back in 1894 and 1895. These native limestone walls are eighteen inches thick, with hand-hewn pillars and window sills. Over the…
Somervell County Courthouse · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Somervell County Courthouse in Glen Rose, a beauty built in 1893 in the late Victorian style. It replaced the previous courthouse, which burned down in 1893 along with many county records.…
Somervell County · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Somervell County, named for Alexander Somervell, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. He led the 1842 Somervell Expedition against Mexican invaders. This area was home to Native American tribes…
Snyder Sanitarium · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Snyder Sanitarium. Hundreds of natural springs and artesian wells made Glen Rose a health resort at the turn of the century. George Paul Snyder (1878-1942), a native of California, opened a…

Show all 200 nearby places

Barnard's Mill · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Barnard's Mill, built in 1860. Charles and George Barnard constructed this grist mill like a fortress, complete with gun ports and three-foot thick walls, to defend against Indian attacks. For years,…
Mineral Springs Primitive Baptist Church · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mineral Springs Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1886 near Post Oak by Elder Wilson Hufner and W. L. Rogers. It was part of the massive Duffau Association, the largest Primitive Baptist group in…
The Day the Dinosaurs Came Back · 1.5 mi
The story that put Glen Rose on the map began in 1909, when a schoolboy exploring the Paluxy River found massive, three-toed footprints hardened in the stone riverbed. Locals knew about them, calling them 'giant man…
Engineering an Atomic Giant · 1.5 mi
Those twin domes you might see on the horizon near Glen Rose are the containment buildings for the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, a marvel of 20th-century engineering. Inside each dome, a process called nuclear…
The Whiskey Woods Capital of Texas · 1.5 mi
During Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s, Glen Rose and the rugged hills of Somervell County earned a reputation for an industry that thrived in the shadows: moonshining. The area's geography was perfect for it. The…
The Nuclear Neighbor · 1.5 mi
If you see two massive, concrete domes rising from the horizon, you’re looking at a project that utterly transformed this small town. That’s the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant. Construction began in 1974 and was…
Glen Rose, TX · 1.5 mi
Glen Rose, Texas, has a rich history that began in 1849 when Charles Barnard opened a trading post near Comanche Peak. After the region became a federal Indian Reservation in 1855, Barnard moved his business to Fort…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Glen Rose (Glen Rose) · 1.5 mi
Glen Rose (Glen Rose, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Joe Randell (0.467 avg, 4 HR); Ethan Thomas (3 HR).
Goodbye to a River · 1.5 mi
Just a few miles from here flows the Brazos River, the subject of one of Texas’s greatest literary works, written by a man who called this area home. John Graves lived for decades on his small, rugged farm near Glen…
The Courthouse Built of Local Stone · 1.5 mi
As you come up on the town square you can't miss the Somervell County Courthouse - and there's a reason it's made of stone. The county's previous courthouse, finished in 1882, burned in 1883 and took the county records…
George's Creek, TX · 2.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
George's Creek is north of U.S. Highway 67 between Cleburne and Glen Rose in northeastern Somervell County. At the time of its founding the community was in Johnson County; the site subsequently became part of Hood…
Squaw Creek Indian Fight · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Somervell County, near Squaw Creek. It's early 1864, and a raiding party of twenty Native Americans has entered Texas. They lanced stockman Rigman Bryant to death and mortally wounded a young man…
Booker Home · 2.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Booker Home, built in the early 1870s. Its thick limestone walls were quarried nearby, and the chimneys are typical of frontier homes from that era. This house was later sold to George L. Booker,…
Comanche Peak - Last Comanche Raid · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
Comanche Peak served as a major landmark in Comanche territory, marking the boundary of the Comancheria empire that dominated the Southern Plains for over 150 years.
The Hardscrabble Farm That Grew Students · 3.3 mi
State Highway One Forty Four, between U.S. Highway Sixty Seven and Mitchell Bend Highway in Hood and Somervell Counties, is the Ed Shipman Memorial Highway. Ed Shipman took an old Somervell County hardscrabble farm and…
How to Clock a Dinosaur From Its Footprints · 3.8 mi
The dinosaur trackways preserved in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park can answer a question that sounds impossible: how fast was that dinosaur moving? You can actually estimate it, using nothing but the…
Footprints Are Fossils of Behavior, Not Bones · 3.8 mi
The dinosaur tracks that make Dinosaur Valley State Park famous are pressed into the bed of the Paluxy River, in rock that is about 113 million years old, a layer called the Glen Rose Formation, laid down in the Early…
Two Very Different Animals Walked This Mud · 3.8 mi
Walk the trackways at Dinosaur Valley State Park and you will notice the tracks come in two completely different shapes, left by two completely different dinosaurs. The sharp, three-toed prints belong to a large…
The Footprints That Fooled People · 3.8 mi
Some of the tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park come with a real lesson in ichnology, the science of reading tracks. Along the Paluxy, some long, narrow prints were once mistaken for giant human footprints walking…
Dinosaur Valley State Park · 3.9 mi · Historical Marker
The Paluxy River bed near Glen Rose contains some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world, dating to approximately 113 million years ago.
Dinosaur Valley State Park · 4.0 mi · Things to Do
The Paluxy River cut down through the limestone here and exposed dinosaur tracks pressed into 113-million-year-old mud. You can wade out into the river in…
Post Oak Community · 4.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the former Post Oak community, settled after the Civil War. It was a farming town, known for cotton and later peanuts, with churches and a school forming the heart of life. Though many left by the…
The Reactor With Two Sets of Plumbing That Never Mix · 4.2 mi
Comanche Peak's two reactors are pressurized water reactors, or PWRs, and the clever part is the plumbing: two completely separate water loops that never touch each other. The primary loop runs water through the…
Splitting an Atom to Boil Water · 4.2 mi
Just north of Glen Rose sits the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant, and at its heart is one of the strangest facts in all of engineering. This enormous, complicated plant exists to do one humble thing: boil water into…
The Man-Made Lake Built to Cool a Reactor · 4.2 mi
That big lake beside the Comanche Peak nuclear plant north of Glen Rose is there for a reason. A power plant like this needs somewhere to dump its leftover waste heat, so before the reactors ever ran, the utility dug an…
Home of A. J. ("Jack") Hart · 4.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Rainbow, Somervell County, past the former home of A. J. "Jack" Hart. Built in 1884, this native stone and hand-hewn lumber house was the home of a Confederate veteran who went on to help organize…
Lanham Mill Community · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lanham Mill, a community that grew up around a grist mill and cotton gin. William Lanham settled here around 1870, and by 1877, his mill was operational. The community thrived with farms,…
Nubbin Ridge Cemetery · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Nubbin Ridge Cemetery, established way back in 1878. It's recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery, a quiet piece of local history.
Mitchell Bend Cemetery · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mitchell Bend Cemetery, the final resting place for many early settlers of Hood County. The area is named for Nelson Cooney Mitchell, who was convicted of murder in 1874 during a feud with the Truett…
Parker-Davis House, 1890 · 6.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Parker-Davis House, built in 1890 by James T. Parker. Parker was a Confederate veteran who made a remarkable 42-day wagon journey from Tennessee to Texas in 1871. He farmed, taught, and served as…
Glen Rose, TX · 7.0 mi
The town of Glen Rose was originally named Barnard's Mill after the three-story stone gristmill constructed along the Paluxy River. The mill was sold to Tyler Calhoun Jordan of Dallas in 1871 for $65,000. Tradition…
George's Creek Baptist Church · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past George's Creek Baptist Church. The history of the George's Creek community can be traced to two men who passed through the area on an 1841 expedition from the Republic of Texas to Santa Fe, New…
Barnard's Trading Post No. 2 · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Barnard's Trading Post No. 2. The Torrey brothers of Connecticut and their childhood friend George Barnard, with President Sam Houston as a partner, contracted to build a series of trading posts…
Pecan Plantation, TX · 8.9 mi
Pecan Plantation's history is rooted in aviation. The community began as a 2,200-acre development centered around a two-runway cropdusting airstrip. What's unique is that the development preserved the runways, creating…
Pecan Plantation, TX · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, and right around here is Pecan Plantation. It wasn't always a sprawling residential community. Back in the late 1940s, this land was part of the Leonard Bend Farm. O.P. Leonard, a…
Comanche Peak · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Comanche Peak, a landmark that's more mesa than mountain, rising over 1200 feet above sea level. For Native Americans and early pioneers, this flat-topped giant was a key point. It might have been a…
Panter Branch School · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Panter Branch School, which served Hood County students by 1898. This two-room schoolhouse, with two teachers for up to 42 pupils, often closed in the fall so kids could help with…
Elm Flat Cemetery · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Elm Flat Cemetery, a resting place established in November 1877. It began when Thomas and Elizabeth Wells buried two young sons here, near their cabin. Later, Elizabeth Wells donated land for a…
Baker-Lain Cemetery · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Baker-Lain Cemetery, a quiet resting place for Johnson County pioneers. The story goes that the very first person buried here was a little girl who died in the 1850s, traveling through with her…
Chalk Mountain Cemetery · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Chalk Mountain Cemetery, the only burial ground that ever served this community. The earliest marked grave is Abigal Davis, who died in 1874, though unmarked burials suggest it might be older.…
The Lake They Said Would Never Fill · 11.6 mi
Southwest of town, tucked into cedar-covered limestone hills, Cleburne State Park is a Depression-era handcraft project hiding in plain sight. A group of Cleburne businessmen bought a few hundred acres in 1934 and…
The John W. Bull Stone House · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Tolar, Hood County, and you might just miss this old stone house. But it's one of the earliest masonry homes built around here, and it has a story tied to the frontier. John W. Bull, a Tennessee…
Site of the Home of Elizabeth Crockett · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Elizabeth Crockett, wife of the legendary Alamo hero David Crockett, lived her final years. She passed away right here on March 2nd, 1860, at the age of 74. Imagine the stories this…
The Ghost of John Wilkes Booth · 12.4 mi
Granbury is home to one of American history's most persistent legends. It claims that John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, wasn't killed in 1865 but escaped to live in Granbury under the alias John St. Helen. During…
The Square That Saved a Town · 12.4 mi
If you're heading to the Granbury Square, you're visiting the heart of a major success story. By the 1960s, this downtown was dying. A new highway bypassed the city center, and the beautiful Victorian buildings fell…
Engineering a Lake, Building a Town · 12.4 mi
The Granbury you see today was fundamentally reshaped by a massive engineering project that began in the 1960s. Before then, the Brazos River would periodically flood, causing widespread damage. To solve this, the…
Hood County News · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hood County News. Successor to "Granbury Vidette" town's first newspaper, founded 1872 by Capt. W.L. Bond and later owned by an 1882 staff recruit, A. W.
Rock Church Cemetery · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Rock Church Cemetery, a burial ground for pioneers who settled this agricultural area in the 1850s. The community center was built on Jesse Caraway's land in the 1870s, and he deeded the property…
Robertson, Nellie Gray · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Granbury, and right here is where Nellie Gray Robertson made history. In 1918, two years before women could even vote nationwide, Nellie ran unopposed for Hood County Attorney. Elected by the men…
Granbury, TX · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Granbury, a town with roots stretching back to the Texas Revolution. It was officially founded in 1866 when brothers J. and J. H. Nutt donated land to create a new townsite. Named for Confederate…
Granbury, Hiram Bronson · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hiram Bronson Granbury, Confederate general, was born in Copiah County, Mississippi, on March 1, 1831, the son of Nancy (McLaurin) and Norvell R. Granbury, a Baptist minister. He was educated at Oakland College. In the…
Gordon, Alonzo Peyton · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Granbury, Texas, and right here on Pearl Street, you can still see the stately home built by Alonzo Peyton Gordon. Gordon was a prominent citizen: a merchant who owned dry goods stores and cotton…
Formwalt, John Alexander · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, right near Granbury, the home of Confederate Captain John Alexander Formwalt. He enlisted as a private in the Tenth Texas Infantry in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
Hood County · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, a place that was once the rugged frontier. Before settlers arrived, this land was home to the Comanche, who called Comanche Peak here their meeting place. As settlers moved in during…
Morris, Burrell Wilson · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, not far from where Burrell Wilson Morris spent much of his life. Born in Red River County in 1846, Morris volunteered for the Confederacy at just fifteen, serving through the Civil…
Baker, Jess Alexander · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Jess Alexander Baker, merchant and state representative, the son of Daniel Marlin and Angeline E. (Chism) Baker, was born near Georgetown, Texas, on October 11, 1856. In 1871 he moved with his father and younger brother…
Wohlford, William Ballard · 12.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, and right here is where William Ballard Wohlford, a farmer and stockman, served in the Texas Legislature. He was elected to the Twenty-third Legislature in 1893, representing Hood,…
The Dam That Made a City · 13.0 mi
The very existence of DeCordova is a testament to a massive feat of civil engineering just down the road: the DeCordova Bend Dam. Built for the Brazos River Authority and finished in early 1969, its purpose was to…
The Day the Whistle Died · 13.0 mi
Imagine a town where nearly every family depends on one company. For Walnut Springs, that was the railroad. When the Texas Central pushed its line through here in 1880 and '81, the town became headquarters for the…
The City That Built a Gate... Then Became a City · 13.0 mi
As you passed through the security gates to enter DeCordova, you experienced the very reason this is a city at all. For its first 30 years, DeCordova was a private development, not a town. But in the late 1990s, the…
The Engineering of a Division Point · 13.0 mi
The rise of Walnut Springs wasn't an accident, it was a decision made on a railroad map. The Texas Central Railroad bought much of the land that became this town in October 1880 and built its line through in 1880 and…
DeCordova, TX · 13.0 mi
In the late 1960s, DeCordova Bend Estates began to take shape alongside the construction of the De Cordova Bend Dam on the Brazos River. This dam was a pivotal moment, as it controlled the river's flow downstream and…
The Texas Promoter Who Named the Bend · 13.0 mi
The name 'DeCordova' belongs to a giant of Texas history who likely never saw the community that bears his name. Jacob De Cordova was a land speculator and one of Texas's greatest champions after it became a state. Born…
The Limestone Opera House · 13.0 mi
Walnut Springs got its name from a spring ringed with walnut trees, and it got its boom from a railroad's toolbox. In 1880 and 1881 the Texas Central Railroad made this town the headquarters of its divisional machine…
Decordova, TX · 13.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Granbury, heading into DeCordova. This community started in the late 1960s, born from the creation of Lake Granbury. It was the very first subdivision developed on the lake, envisioned as a weekend…
Cureton, Calvin Maples · 13.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bosque County, not far from where Calvin Maples Cureton was born in 1874. He wasn't just any Texan; he rose from ranching and editing a magazine to serving in the Texas legislature. But his…
Cureton, Captain J.J., C.S.A. · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Captain J.J. Cureton, a true Texas frontier legend. He settled near Palo Pinto County back in 1854, becoming a rancher and a lawman. When Indian raids threatened, Cureton led his…
Barry, James Buckner · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bosque County, heading past Walnut Springs. Look to your right, and you might see the ranch where James Buckner Barry lived out his days. Barry arrived in Texas all the way from North Carolina…
James Hogan Doyle and Mary Kate Stringfellow Doyle · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where James Hogan Doyle and Mary Kate Stringfellow Doyle built their lives in Granbury. Doyle, a Civil War veteran from South Carolina, arrived in Texas around 1870. He quickly established himself as…
Wright-Henderson-Duncan House · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wright-Henderson-Duncan House in Granbury. This limestone home has a unique claim to fame: its three principal owners all served as sheriff of Hood County! A.J. Wright started building this place…
The Colony Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of The Colony, a community founded by enslaved people who came to Hood County with their owners as early as the 1850s. After emancipation, they settled here, acquired land, and built a life.…
Clark, Addison · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe even near Fort Worth or Thorp Spring, and you're passing through history. Right here, Addison Clark and his brother Randolph, along with their father, founded Add-Ran College in…
Acton, TX · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Acton is on State Highway 4 five miles east of Granbury in Hood County. The site was cleared in 1866, when the area was in Johnson County. Acton is the oldest known settlement in Hood County. As early as 1845 there were…
Clark, Randolph · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, and right here in Thorp Springs, you're passing the birthplace of Texas Christian University. In 1873, Randolph Clark and his brother Addison, both teachers and ministers, were…
Crockett, Elizabeth Patton · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, not far from Granbury, and you're passing through the final chapter of a remarkable woman's life. Elizabeth Patton Crockett, the second wife of the legendary Davy Crockett, made her…
Thorp Spring, TX · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Thorp Spring is on Farm Road 4 five miles northwest of Granbury in north central Hood County. Though Pleasant Thorp settled in the area near the banks of Strouds Creek in the 1850s, Indian attacks slowed community…
Doyle, John Newton · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, maybe near Acton, where Dr. John Newton Doyle set up shop in the late 1860s. He'd served as a Confederate surgeon during the Civil War, but Texas called him back to civilian life. He…
Fort Spunky, TX · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
The remnants of the Fort Spunky community are on Farm roads 199 and 2174 and Lake Granbury in the southeastern corner of Hood County. The settlement was originally named Barnardville. In 1849 George Barnard built one of…
Paluxy, TX · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Paluxy is on State Highway 51 fifteen miles southwest of Granbury in Hood County. It was in Erath County until 1866, when Hood County was carved out of the region. The Paluxy post office was established in 1858 and was…
Friendship Cemetery · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Friendship Cemetery, established in 1877. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2012.
The Bartender Who Claimed He Was Lincoln's Assassin · 13.7 mi
Here is Granbury's most famous tall tale, and it really did start on this square. In the 1870s a quiet, well-spoken bartender named John St. Helen tended bar at a saloon on the south side of the square. Local tradition…
The Limestone Courthouse That Anchors One of the Most Complete Squares in Texas · 13.7 mi
Standing dead center on the square is one of the finest 19th-century courthouses in Texas. Architect W. C. Dodson designed it in the French Second Empire style, and contractors Moodie and Ellis built it of locally…
Davy Crockett's Widow and the Smallest State Site in Texas · 13.7 mi
Five miles east of Granbury in tiny Acton stands the smallest state historic site in Texas, just six-thousandths of an acre, and it marks a single grave. Buried here is Elizabeth Patton Crockett, the second wife of Davy…
The Night the Sky Took Rancho Brazos · 13.7 mi
On the evening of May 15, 2013, a violent EF4 tornado dropped onto the southeastern edge of Granbury and tore directly through the Rancho Brazos neighborhood. It carved a path about 2.75 miles long, with a width…
Granbury, General H.B.; and Granbury's Texas Brigade · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a legendary Civil War unit: Granbury's Texas Brigade. Formed in late 1863, this brigade was made up of Texans known for their incredible bravery. They fought in major battles like Lookout…
Hood, General John Bell · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hood County, named for a man who became one of the Confederacy's most famous generals: John Bell Hood. Born in Kentucky, he first came to Texas serving on the frontier. He resigned his U.S. Army…
Crockett's Bounty · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through land that was once Davy Crockett's bounty. After his death at the Alamo in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>, his heirs were granted nearly 1,300 acres. In <say-as…
Nellie Gray Robertson · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Nellie Gray Robertson. Born in 1894 as the sixth and only daughter of William Jarrett Robertson and Arminda Barton Robertson, Nellie Gray Robertson grew up amid financial hardships in Hood County.…
Kerr's Hall: A Saloon Downstairs, the Footlights Above · 13.7 mi
On the south side of the square sits the Granbury Opera House, which opened in 1886 as Kerr's Hall, named for owner Henry Kerr. It was the showiest building on the square in its day, a two-story native-limestone…
The Figure in Black Who Recites Shakespeare After Dark · 13.7 mi
After the audience clears out, the Granbury Opera House has a reputation for not being entirely empty. Staff and visitors have long described a figure dressed in black who appears on the stage reciting Shakespeare, and…
The Hotel the Blind Brothers Built · 13.7 mi
The Nutt House Hotel on the square carries one of Granbury's best origin stories, and yes, that really is the family name. The same Nutt brothers tied to the town's founding started a mercantile here in 1866 in a wooden…
Forty Acres on the Brazos and a Three-Election County Seat · 13.7 mi
The town square you're circling exists because two brothers gave it away. In 1866, J. and J. H. Nutt donated forty acres of riverfront land on the west bank of the Brazos to create a new townsite, the year Hood County…
A Dam Built to Cool a Nuclear Plant · 13.7 mi
The water that defines modern Granbury is engineered, not natural. The Brazos River Authority broke ground on De Cordova Bend Dam in December 1966 and began impounding water on September 15, 1969, creating Lake Granbury…
Granbury Opera House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Granbury Opera House, a landmark that's been entertaining folks since 1886. For years, its top floor was known as Kerr's Opera House, hosting everything from vaudeville shows to dramatic plays…
Hood County Courthouse · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hood County Courthouse in Granbury, a building that's seen a lot of history. This handsome structure, built between 1890 and 1891, is a beautiful Texas example of the French Second Empire…
Burgers in the Old Marathon Filling Station · 13.7 mi
If you want lunch with a little local history baked in, the Fillin' Station sits right on the Granbury square at 100 North Crockett Street, in a building that traces back to a Marathon Oil fueling station, which is…
Bush-Morgan Cherry Building · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and right here is the Bush-Morgan Cherry Building, built way back in 1891. It's seen some of Granbury's biggest names and businesses. First, it was F.C. Bush's dry goods store, who also…
Daniel House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and you're passing the Daniel House, built in the early 1890s. Young William B. Daniel came to town at age 10, eventually taking over his father's grocery business to become a leading…
Hannaford, E.A., House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and just ahead is the E.A. Hannaford House, built between 1881 and 1882. Hannaford himself was quite the figure in town. He arrived from England in 1871 and quickly opened Granbury's…
First Christian Church of Granbury · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Granbury, and just up ahead is the site of the First Christian Church. Organized in the 1870s, this congregation has deep roots in Texas education. The Clark brothers, who helped establish this…
Granbury House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Granbury House, a place that tells the story of Martha Washington Stringfellow. Arriving in Hood County around 1871 as a widow with three children, Martha needed to make a living. She opened a…
Harris Building · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Harris Building in Granbury, a place that tells a fascinating story about early Texas business. Built in 1899 by stonemason I.W. Walley, its rock walls and decorative brickwork were constructed…
Haynes-Burns-Ewell Building · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and right here is a native stone building with a long history of commerce. It started in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1872</say-as> as the Granbury post office, built by James…
Brown, J.D. and Georgia, House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and right here is the J.D. and Georgia Brown House, built back in 1907. J.D. Brown was quite the figure in this town. He started with a successful dry goods store, then moved into…
Lees-Bryan House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and right here is the Lees-Bryan House, built in 1890. It's a prime example of Eastlake architecture, commissioned by J.C. Lees, a merchant originally from Canada. Take a look at that…
E. A. Hannaford Building · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the E. A. Hannaford Building, a piece of Granbury history right here in Hood County. E. A. Hannaford arrived in Granbury in 1871, starting his business from scratch in a tent! By 1886, he and partner…
Temple Hall United Methodist Church · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Temple Hall United Methodist Church, one of Hood County's earliest institutions. Organized in 1854 as the Methodist Protestant Church, early services were sometimes cut short due to…
Bowden Kennon House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bowden Kennon House, built between 1908 and 1914 for Ralph W. Bowden, a Granbury merchant who established an early telephone system. He also served on the city council. The home was sold in 1914…
Baker-Carmichael House · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Baker-Carmichael House, built in 1905 by Jess Baker, a prominent local businessman and state representative. After his death and his wife Alice's passing in the early 1920s, the house was bought…
Granbury, TX · 13.8 mi
Granbury's history is marked by pivotal moments that shaped the city. It began as a simple square with a log cabin courthouse, and many of the buildings on the square are now registered historic landmarks, including the…
Granbury - Legends on the Square · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
Granbury has one of the most photogenic courthouse squares in Texas and two of the wildest legends. The first: that Jesse James didn't die in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1882. According to local lore, a man named J. Frank…
Nutt, J.F. and J., Building · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Granbury landmark built by remarkable brothers. Jesse and Jacob Nutt, both blind, were instrumental in establishing Granbury as the county seat. Their first store in 1866 was a humble…
Brazos Drive-In Theatre · 13.8 mi · Things to Do
Granbury businessmen pooled local materials in 1952 and put up a drive-in on what was then the edge of town to lure people in. It opened June 5 with Robert…
Aston-Landers Building · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Aston-Landers Building in Granbury, a place that's seen more action than just commerce. Built in 1893 as a saloon, this native stone structure with its patented iron front was the site of a…
Hood County Jailhouse · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and right here is the Hood County Jailhouse, built in 1873. This wasn't just any jail; it replaced a log structure because lawlessness was rampant back then. It's a late Victorian…
Aston House · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Aston House in Granbury, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture. Built in 1905 by E.J. Holderness for Andy C. Aston, this home was a promise kept to his young wife, Dorothy. Mrs. Aston,…
Baker-Doyle Building · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and right here is the Baker-Doyle Building, a testament to Texas commerce. John D. Baker, a merchant and community leader, had this limestone beauty built in 1882 to house his dry goods…
Baker-Rylee Building and Town Square Service Station · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Baker-Rylee Building in Granbury, a landmark on the town square. Built in 1895 as a hardware store for Baker and Rylee, it saw its partnership grow and eventually become Baker Hardware…
Glenn Brothers Building · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Glenn Brothers Building in Granbury, a testament to Victorian-era commerce. <break time="400ms"/> Erected in 1885 by town builder James Farr, this structure quickly became a hub for the Glenn…
Gordon Home · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Gordon Home in Granbury, built in 1882. Alonzo Peyton Gordon arrived here from Georgia in 1871, first teaching school before launching a mercantile business. His store, housed in a massive stone…
Hardware and Tin Shop · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury's historic town square, where buildings of local stone replaced cabins in the late 1800s. Look for the building constructed in 1882 by investor John D. Baker. After a fire in 1891, it was…
Schultz Blacksmith Shop, Site of · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
As you cruise through Granbury, look for the site of the Schultz Blacksmith Shop. Carl Severin Schultz, born in Denmark in 1876, came to America and tried his hand at several businesses, even owning a soft drink…
Fair, The · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Granbury building that's been a hub of commerce for over a century. It started in 1888 as Andy Aston's harness and saddle shop. Imagine the craftsmanship! The building got an iron…
Thrash-Landers-Hiner House · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and right here is the Thrash-Landers-Hiner House. This home has seen quite a few prominent owners since it was built around 1880. The first was Patrick H. Thrash, a North Carolina native…
First National Bank · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Granbury's First National Bank. The first part of this hand-hewn limestone building went up in 1883, opening as a private bank. It earned its national charter just four years later, in…
Dr. William and Eunice Walker House · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and just ahead is a house known as 'The Honeymoon Cottage.' Built around 1895 for Dr. William Walker, a specialist in eyes, ears, nose, and throat, and his wife Eunice, this Victorian…
Granbury Methodist Church · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Granbury Methodist Church. Organized in 1871 by Reverend John R. Hill and seven members, they first worshipped in a schoolhouse before completing their own sanctuary in 1883. The…
Acton Cemetery — Elizabeth Crockett's Grave · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
On a quiet patch of ground east of Granbury sits the smallest state park in Texas. It is only six thousandths of an acre, just enough room for a single family plot inside the old Acton Cemetery. The grave at its center…
Nutt, David L., Home · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the David L. Nutt home in Granbury, built in 1879. Nutt, who arrived in Texas in 1857, constructed this two-story house plantation-style, using cypress lumber hauled all the way from East…
Daniel-Harris Home · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the elegant Daniel-Harris Home, built around 1892 for Robert Randolph Daniel, a local merchant and saloonkeeper. Just seven years later, in 1899, it was purchased by Wesley Smith Harris, a prominent…
Holderness-Aiken House · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and you might catch a glimpse of this historic home. Built in 1896 by contractor E.J. Holderness, it's a prime example of Eastlake architecture, with some really intricate decoration on…
First Presbyterian Church of Granbury · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Granbury. Presbyterians held services in this area starting in the 1850s, and the church was officially organized here in 1879. The congregation built…
Granbury Light Plant · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Granbury, and if you look around, you might still see the old city power plant. Before 1923, private companies controlled Granbury's electricity. But the folks here decided they wanted to power…
Tolar Tabernacle · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Tolar, and right here is the Tolar Tabernacle, built around 1897. Before air conditioning, these open-air structures were vital for hot Texas summers. Think revivals, weddings, family reunions,…
Acton Baptist Church (First Baptist Church of Acton) · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Acton, where a Baptist congregation was organized in 1855 by the Rev. Joseph Robinson. His successor was the Rev. James Halford, son-in-law of the famous frontiersman David Crockett. The congregation…
Friday Night Dreams · 14.1 mi
In the fall of 2023, something special happened in Tolar. The town’s high school football team, the Rattlers, embarked on a historic playoff run that captivated the entire community. Week after week, the team defied…
Acton Cemetery · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Acton, Texas, home to the smallest state park in Texas. But this tiny park holds a giant piece of Texas history: the grave of Elizabeth P. Crockett, widow of the legendary Alamo hero, David Crockett.…
Crockett, Elizabeth, Grave of · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of Elizabeth Crockett, the wife of the legendary David Crockett. Born in North Carolina in 1788, she married David in Tennessee in 1816. After a life that spanned the early…
The Railroad That Turned a Frontier Town to Stone · 14.1 mi
Walk the square and notice how much of it is solid limestone and brick rather than frontier clapboard. You can thank the railroad for that. When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway reached Granbury in 1887, it…
The Fire That Turned Tolar to Stone · 14.1 mi
In nineteen oh nine, a fire tore through Tolar. By the town's own account, when it was over, only four buildings were left. The town's own history calls it a great disaster. And when Tolar rebuilt, it rebuilt only in…
Engineering a Town into Existence · 14.1 mi
The town of Tolar exists because of a railroad that could not make up its mind. The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway spent years pushing southwest out of Fort Worth, and its route was changed many times before…
McGaughey, William L. · 14.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hood County, maybe near Tolar or Granbury, where William L. McGaughey lived out his days. But this wasn't just any Texas rancher. McGaughey was a Confederate soldier who survived multiple…
Acton Masonic Lodge Hall, Former · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Acton, Texas, and you're passing a building that's worn a lot of hats. Built between 1866 and 1868 by the local Masons, this native stone structure was originally the Acton Lodge Hall. But look…
Granbury Railroad Depot · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Granbury, and just ahead is a reminder of the town's vital link to the outside world: the historic railroad depot. Built in 1914, this structure replaced the very first station that welcomed the…
Tolar, Thaler, Dollar · 14.1 mi
Here is a word game for the road. Tolar, Texas, was named for a man, a friend of one of the town's leaders. But across the ocean, tolar was also money. From October eighth, nineteen ninety-one, until the euro arrived on…
Tolar, TX · 14.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Tolar, a community that owes its existence to the railroad. When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway arrived around 1890, settlers followed. The town was named for Alf Tolar, a friend of the man…
Acton Methodist Church · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Acton Methodist Church. Settlement here began in the early 1850s, with local congregations forming a union church. The Acton Methodist Church was established by 1873 and purchased land for its own…
The 103-Year-Old Outlaw in the Granbury Cemetery · 14.3 mi
Granbury collects famous-men-who-supposedly-didn't-die stories, and the second one rests in the Granbury Cemetery. In 1948 an ancient drifter named J. Frank Dalton began telling people he was the real Jesse James, the…
Granbury Cemetery · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Granbury Cemetery, a place that tells the story of this town's past. Look for the stone of John Edwards, who died way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1853</say-as>. But the real…
Acton Public Square · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Acton, the oldest community in Hood County. It started life as 'Comanche Peak' when a post office opened way back in 1856. Just a dozen years later, the town was renamed 'Acton.' This public…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Tolar (Tolar) · 14.4 mi
Tolar (Tolar, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Noah Yanish (0.465 avg).
Smith-Savage House · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Smith-Savage House, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture right here in Granbury. Samuel Hancock Smith, Hood County's tax assessor, had this residence built around 1883. Notice the…
The Night a Tornado Crossed Highway 377 · 14.9 mi
On the night of April nineteenth, two thousand twenty-five, the strongest tornado of a stormy North Texas evening came up this stretch between Bluff Dale and Tolar. It touched down along the Hood and Erath County line…
First Baptist Church of Granbury · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Granbury. Early settlers worshiped outdoors, and in 1866, Pastor J.N. Chandler began serving this small group. The congregation organized a Sunday school in…
Fulton Cemetery · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Fulton Cemetery, originally known as Morgan Cemetery. The first marked burial here was Martha A. Duke in 1880. Daniel Morgan, a Civil War veteran who came to Texas in 1834, is buried here with…
Crockett, Elizabeth, Three Miles to the Grave of · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving south of Granbury, and just three miles ahead lies the final resting place of Elizabeth Crockett. She was the wife of the legendary David Crockett, hero of the Alamo. Elizabeth passed away on March 2nd,…
Union Hill School · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Union Hill School, one of many country schools that educated Bosque County's early settlers. Classes here began even before 1879. A two-room schoolhouse went up across the road in…
Glenn Cemetery · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hood County, near the old community of Bluff Dale. This is the site of Glenn Cemetery, established when Andrew Jackson Glenn donated land in 1897. The earliest grave here dates back to 1867, and…
Add-Ran Christian College · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Thorp Springs, and right here is where a college got its start. In 1873, J.A. Clark and his two sons, Addison and Randolph, opened a private school called Add-Ran Christian College. Think about it…
Pleasant Thorp · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Thorp Spring, named for Pleasant Thorp, a blacksmith who arrived in Texas in 1840. He settled here after traveling with the Morehouse Expedition, eventually setting aside land for this town and…
Cedar Point School · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Erath County, near Stephenville, past the site of the Cedar Point School. It started life as Elm Grove School around 1860, in a simple log cabin miles from here. In 1894, the community got three…
Stroud Creek Cemetery · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Tolar, and just off the road is Stroud Creek Cemetery. Settlers began using this land for burials back in 1883, a practice that continued for residents of Tolar. The cemetery holds community…
Graves-Payne House · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Kopperl, Bosque County, and you might just miss this old stone house. Look for the Graves-Payne House, built in 1876. That date is carved right into a limestone brick in the fireplace! The Aaron…
Holt House · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Holt House in Bluff Dale, a beautiful example of Folk Victorian architecture built around 1895. It was home to Dr. Hardy L. Holt, a Civil War veteran who later became a pioneer physician in this…
Denny Cemetery · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Denny Cemetery, a final resting place for a Texas Ranger who guarded the frontier. Alfred Denny arrived in Texas in 1853, eventually settling near here in 1867. During the Civil War, he served in…
Houston Ranch · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Houston Ranch. Frank R. Putnam was born on November 15, 1848 in Massachusetts. In 1879, Frank and his brother, Addison, purchased 25,000 acres on Upper Berry Creek. In 1883, the Putnams built a…
Bluff Dale Tabernacle · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bluff Dale Tabernacle, built around 1906 on land donated by the founder of Bluff Dale itself, Andrew Jackson Glenn. This place was the heart of the community for decades. Imagine it packed for…
W.M. Miller Cemetery · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the W.M. Miller Cemetery, established in 1894. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008.
Oak Trail Shores, TX · 17.5 mi
Nestled in northern Hood County, Oak Trail Shores is situated on the southwestern side of Lake Granbury, a reservoir on the Brazos River. The community is just 5 miles northwest of Granbury, the county seat. With a…
Public Water Well, Old · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bluff Dale, and right here is a reminder of how vital water was to early Texas. Dug around 1887 by railroad crews building the Fort Worth and Rio Grande line, this was a crucial oasis. It started…
The Town That Moved to Meet the Train · 17.5 mi
Bluff Dale is not where it started. Settlers from Ellijay, Georgia, and other Southern towns came to the Paluxy River in the late eighteen sixties and settled near artesian wells. They called the place Bluff Spring. A…
Warnock, J. F., Hardware · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bluff Dale, and if you look closely, you might see the bones of a true Texas landmark. This is the Warnock Hardware store, built in 1915 by J.F. Warnock. He'd been serving the local farmers since…
Pony Creek Cemetery · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Pony Creek Cemetery, a resting place for families who settled this land as early as 1845. Imagine the frontier life here, with homesteads built around that time, but still facing raids from Indian…
Bluff Dale United Methodist Church · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bluff Dale, home to the United Methodist Church. Its roots go back to the mid-1880s, with early meetings following a camp meeting in 1881. The congregation built its first church in 1894 and moved…
Antioch Community · 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through western Hood County, near where the last Indian fight in the county went down. It was called the Battle of Lookout Point, and it happened right around here in September of <say-as…
From Cow Pastures to Subdivisions · 17.7 mi
As you drive along Highway 171, you're seeing a story of massive change unfold in real time. For most of its history, Godley was a small, quiet town with a population that rarely topped 1,000 people. It was surrounded…
A Town Made by the Railroad · 17.7 mi
Look at the railroad tracks that cut through the heart of Godley. They are not just passing through, they are the reason the town is here. But it did not happen the way you would guess. In 1886 the Gulf, Colorado and…
Godley, TX · 17.7 mi
Established in 1886, the city was named after R. B. Godley, a Cleburne lumber merchant who donated land for a townsite and a right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. By 1888, Godley had a gristmill,…
A lumber merchant's eight-acre gift · 17.7 mi
The existence of Godley is as much a deal as a survey line. When the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway came through Johnson County in the eighteen-eighties, engineers were plotting the gentlest possible grades to…
Morgan, Texas: The Railroad Town Built Around Tower 50 · 17.8 mi
Morgan is a small town in northern Bosque County, Texas, that grew up around the railroad. Originally called Steele's Creek, it was renamed Morgan — for Thomas Morgan, a Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway stockholder and…
The Bridge That Was Never Really a Suspension Bridge · 17.8 mi
The rusty iron bridge hanging over the Paluxy River near Bluff Dale may be the oldest bridge of its kind in the whole country. The Runyon Bridge Company out of Weatherford built it, and Erath County accepted the work in…
Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge · 17.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Get ready to step back in time as you approach the Bluff Dale Bridge, a true survivor from a bygone era. This isn't just any bridge; it's a tangible link to Erath County's late 19th-century history. Imagine a time…
The Forgotten Inventor Behind the Bluff Dale Bridge · 17.8 mi
The man who designed the old iron bridge near Bluff Dale is almost a mystery. When federal historians studied the bridge in nineteen ninety-six, they found very little about Edwin Elijah Runyon. What survives is a…
First United Methodist Church of Morgan · 17.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Morgan, and right here is the First United Methodist Church. Organized way back in 1889, this congregation actually started by meeting in the Baptist church building! It wasn't until an 1891…
Site of Early Cattle Trail · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hill County, right where one of the great cattle trails once thundered. Often called the Chisholm Trail, though it connected with that famous route further north, this path brought thousands of…
Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge. For at least 20 years vehicles had to ford the Paluxy River to reach Bluff Dale and points west. Wagon traffic increased after the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad line…
Johnsville Cemetery · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Johnsville, a community that thrived here before 1860. It was named for John Z. Martin, the first postmaster back in 1901. Johnsville boasted general stores, a cotton gin, blacksmiths,…
Morgan, TX (Bosque County) · 18.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Morgan, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Originally called Steele's Creek, the community got its start when the Texas Central Railroad approached. The post office went up in…

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Glen Rose, Texas

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The Day the Dinosaurs Came Back RoadyGoat

Engineering an Atomic Giant RoadyGoat

The Whiskey Woods Capital of Texas RoadyGoat

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Barnard, Juana Josefina Cavasos

Somervell County

Dinosaur Tracks

Comanche Peak - Last Comanche Raid

Barnard, Charles E.

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