There's an oft quoted line from Forrest Gump about how you never know what to expect, and this week was a perfect example.
When I decided to book a site at Jim Hogg City Park it was on a whim. I was looking for something a little different, and hadn't yet done a city park. I didn't really expect to find much, just a small park and maybe a little local history.
I mean, it's Jim Hogg park, right? As in the 20th governor of Texas and the first one born in Texas. So I knew I was going to get some background on Ima's dad (sorry, had to do that.)
I got that, and more. Quitman, Texas is not the birthplace of the governor, but he did start his political career there, and married not far from where I was camped.
Side note: Hogg and Sallie Stinson had to almost defy her father to get married. At the time Jim was Justice of the Peace for Quitman and had founded the local paper, but prospects weren't great. Mr. Stinson was an outstanding businessman, and didn't like that his daughter was hanging out with a poor newsman.
They had the last laugh, though. They were married in the Stinson house (pic above), and of course Ol' Jim went on to great things.
The RV park itself isn't great shakes. But what's cool is it sits in a city park with a big pavilion, a splash park and lots of play equipment for the kiddies. And it's busy! At least four times while I was staying they had group events like school field trips, a wedding some kind of reunion and morning exercise classes.
Also in the park is the Wood County Arboretum. Set on 60 plus acres, this is a great little place to check out local and exotic plant life. Run by a volunteer team, they have several plantings, a couple of gazebos, a no water garden and are currently building a Monarch butterfly way station.
And smack dab at the front of the arboretum is the Stinson house. Yep the one that Jim and Sallie got married in. It was moved to the park in the 1960's by their daughter Ima and a county agricultural agent by the name of Edward Spacek (OK, guess why he's famous.) The house is open for a few days a week, which is also the volunteers' work day. And even though they were busy a very nice lady by the name of Pamela was kind enough to walk me through the house and gave me some history then left me on my own to poke around the place.
Also in the park are Jim Hogg's house, a small building with some old printing equipment as well as a couple of city offices and the local chamber of commerce.
I love how small towns make use of space!
Now, if that was all I found in Quitman, it would have been enough. But, like they say in the commercial "Wait. There's more!" When I was checking in at City Hall, I asked, like I do at every new spot, what was interesting or quirky in the area and the guy behind the counter said "I own a coffee shop that use to be a speakeasy." He had me on the hook.
I dropped in to the coffee house (named The Speakeasy of course) and Kelly the other owner and wife of the guy at city hall (small towns, right?) was fantastic. She gave me the full history of the building and took me of a tour, including the second floor that not only was the location of the speakeasy, but also a brothel, a hotel and a secret society meeting place. Wow! Who knew?
Kelly is in the process of rehabbing the whole building. The first floor has the coffee shop, and she's torn down all the interior walls from the hotel upstairs and is turning it into a meeting/wedding/dinner theater space. They've already had a few events, and I saw a flyer for a murder mystery dinner theater type event in a couple of weeks. And they have yoga on Tuesdays. Way to go, Kelly!
This place sounds like a lot of fun. I'm definitely going to keep track of it. They have a facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/speakeasycoffeehouse/ if you want to check them out.
About 10 miles away is the bustling metropolis of Mineola. Primarily a railroad town, Mineola has an Amtrak station built like an old time depot building with a museum in it, a play park with a play set shaped like a locomotive, and even their trash cans are shaped like smokestacks! This is another small town with a lively downtown, but it's more touristy, with cafes, a BBQ place and a restaurant that's been open since the 1880's.
And I found Cadillac Ranch East! Everybody knows about that string of nose-down Cadillacs up near Amarillo.
From what I can gather, a local DJ put out a challenge to make a copy in East Texas, and a fireworks stand near Lindale about 20 miles away took him up on it. Only they cranked it up a notch. They buried two Cadillac hearses. When I spotted them along highway 69 I almost wrecked the rig I was laughing so hard.
That's it for this week. I just found out that the latest season of Goliath just dropped, so it's binge time. I'm headed to Purtis Creek State Park for a few days next week, then off to Lake Tawakoni. My schedule is kinda screwy for the next few weeks, so don't be surprised if my posts aren't as normally scheduled.
An no YouTube this week. Yeah, I know, consistency is the key. But I'm still not sure I'm going that way. If this stops being fun because it's too close to work, then that kinda messes up the whole idea, know what I mean?
I'm going to go ahead and invest a little money in some equipment, and see if that changes things. Look for more in the weeks to come.
In the meantime,
Later folks.
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