Aransas Pass / Port Aransas Day 1

We celebrated our wedding anniversary by taking a trip to the coast.  There is a lot of things I liked there.  This is some of what we saw.  Don’t you just love other peoples’ vacation pictures!

Stopped to check out this old school. It looked like it might be WPA, but turns out it was built in 1939.

Across from the school is this sailfish sculpture.

Stopped to exchange books at this Lil Library.

Mural on park bathroom.

Nice large tourist shop.

Pirate Ship in the Harbor.

Spotted another Lil Library and exchanged more books.

Sailfish at the Marine Science Institute.

Nice entrance to another tourist shop. Spent some money here.

View looking back.

Nice lighthouse at another tourist shoppe. Spent money here too. LOL

This big fishermen are made of fiberglass.

Pink octopus caught my eye, but we resisted doing any more shopping.

Pier at the beach. It costs seniors a whole dollar to walk out on it.

View of the beach from the pier as we were walking out on the pier.

View from the pier on the way back in.

Pelican just asking to be photographed. Big show off.

There were many sea gulls perched around.

There were enough waves that there people out trying to surf.

Another photogenic pelican.

Belton 12/02/2022

Belton is the county seat of Bell County.  It was 54 degrees when we started, and misting rain.  Belton isn’t the largest city in the county, Temple is.  There is a Year Round Event in Belton, but this isn’t it.  I made up this 5K walk route.

Looking down on Nolan Creek

The Belton Farmers Co-Op Gin, built in 1927 along Nolan Creek, is a rare example of a surviving brick cotton gin in Central Texas.

Peter Bell, veteran, politician, Texas Ranger… immortalized beside the Courthouse of the County that bears his name.

1916 Confederate Heroes Monument

1873 Bell County Jail is now a private residence.

1895 Victorian Home

Pillars erected in 1903 mark entrance to UMHB campus.

Townsend Memorial Library

1902 Decorative Cement Bench.

The grave of Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor

Eternal flame honoring Martha Smirl Cooper
alumnae president 1966-1972

Metal arch tells us UMHB was started here in 1845.

Sculpture depicts a young female graduate of the 1890’s

Hughes Recital Hall is a symmetrical Georgian Revival style building completed in the 1930s.

Fall colors on campus.

Another pretty tree.

Large wood gazebo.

Fountain in the lake.

1892 Queen Anne style home.

Another Queen Anne, this one from 1886.

1902 Queen Anne

Statue of Liberty complete with poem.

1948 Baptist Church.

Former home is now a B&B.

1895 Victorian is now a Child Advocacy Center.

1890 Victorian is the loveliest home in Belton.

1930s Art Deco Bus Station (Former)

1904 Carnegie Library is now a museum.

On this site on July 14, 1857, Sam Houston, Commander
of the Texian Army and Hero of San Jacinto
spoke while running for governor.

Lady Justice on top the courthouse.

Bell County Courthouse restored in 1999.

Originally built 1870-1880’s. Art Deco façade added  in the 1930s.

Nice Mural

1967 Belton City Hall

Crossing back over Nolan Creek.

Breckenridge 11/12/2022

Breckenridge is the county seat of Stephens County.  It was 45 degrees when we started, and it didn’t warm up much. This city still has some of its historic brick streets which is pretty neat.

We parked in front of the 1926 Grey Limestone Courthouse.

Ten Commandments in front of courthouse (nice reminders).

War Memorial on the courthouse square.

Methodist Church covers one whole block.

Cute Jeepster, 1948-50?

Horse statue in front of Junior High School.

Buckaroo on top of the High School.

Gazebo across from the courthouse.

Public Library is closed on weekends.

Sculpture in front of the library.

1922 – Municipal Building

Mural of a 1924 football game between the Breckenridge Buckaroos and the Cisco Lobos.

1934 WPA Post Office.

1921 Baptist Church

1925 First Christian Church

Mural of a roundup framed by cattle brands.

Mural says Howdy from Breckenridge

Vintage Movie Theater

Mural reproduces a 1927 photo of an actual event.

Former YMCA now houses a Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts Studio

Plaque about the bricks that make up the city streets.

City Park mural is badly deteriorated.

1920’s gas station is currently selling gas at 3.39 a gallon.

Former RR Depot.

This buckaroo is at a car repair shop.

I.O.O.F. on the left.  Masonic lodge on the right.  Museum in the middle.

Oil Driller at the Museum

The mural of the 1926 Nash Dealership on a vacant building.

A painting depicting Walker Street in 1923.

Mural of Breckenridge during the oil boom.

Fountain consists of six limestone pillars spilling forth water.

Former Bank Building is now a museum.

Preserved remnant of the 1883 courthouse .

Visiting Texas County Courthouses

Back in 1993 my sister talked me into answering an ad in the paper. A group of people were interested in starting a walking club in Waco. About 10 people showed up, and a club “The Chisholm Trailblazers” was formed.

My sister and I went with the new club to a walking event in Granbury hosted by the “Hood County Hummers Club”. The rest is history, 29 years of walking events with clubs across Texas and the United States. All these clubs are members of the American Volkssport Association (America Walking Club).

On 05/27/2022 I completed the Texas 254 County Challenge. It has been a wonderful adventure, shared at times with my sister and my husband. They unfortunately didn’t accompany me every time, so they didn’t complete the challenge.

I decided to write about my walking adventures in the hopes of getting others to become walkers.

I made up this Map of Texas with the County Courthouses on it. While doing walking events, I was also visiting courthouses and Waymarking them… almost all of them. There are four yellow moons on the map. They are for courthouses that no one has created a Waymark for.

If you click on the green star, it shows you the picture I took of the courthouse. (Disclaimer: not of photo studio quality.)

The blue marker is for a courthouse that has been Waymarked by someone else, but I haven’t visited and photographed it.

Houston is an amazing city, I’ve been there so many times, but never downtown at the Courthouse. I hope to get that courthouse soon.

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UPDATE:

I was looking into the Harris County Courthouse and was wowed to find that there are four courthouses: 1910, 1953, 1969, and 2006. I actually have visited the 1910 one, it has a stained glass dome. If Houston needs four courthouse, I should take a closer look at Dallas and San Antonio. They may have more that I know also.

Here is the dome picture.

Mt. Pleasant 10/16/2022

Mt. Pleasant is the county seat of Titus County.  I planned a 5K walk but we got heavy rain.  I’m not complaining, we badly need rain so we scrapped the walk idea and drove around taking pictures.  I still got wet, but not soaked!

Courthouse originally built in 1895. Remodeled in 1940 to Art Deco.

Golden Anniversary Memorial celebrating WWI Victory.

Gold Star Memorial By-Way sign from Garden Club.

Veterans Memorial on SW corner of courthouse lawn.

1897 courthouse bell has a new home in tower across from courthouse dedicated in 2007.

Nice mural on the Pizza Tavern

CSA Memorial erected in 1911 by Daughters of the Confederacy.

Statue of Liberty mural on courthouse annex.

Largest hand painted Dr. Pepper advertisement in Texas.

Ghost sign for Bull Durham tobacco.

Pastel flower mural on “Vapor Pusher” (Vap and you’ll soon need flowers?)

Mt. Pleasant High School now a “Resource Center” for Sylvan Learning and Adult Education.

Caldwell Park Gazebo

1923 First Presbyterian Church.  Congregation organized in 1881.

1924 US Post Office became a Library in 1967.  Currently an antique store.

Leakey 9/18/2022

Half the fun of walking in Leakey was the drive there and back. We walked in Kerrville on Saturday and then headed to Leakey on Sunday. We took the scenic route along the river thru Ingram and Hunt (Hwy-39) and connected with U.S. 83 into Leakey. Leakey is the county seat for Real County. We took the scenic hill country route back to Kerrville via Medina and Camp Verde (where we ate lunch). It was a fun trip.

We parked in front of the 1917 limestone courthouse building.

Real County Veteran’s Memorial

POW/MIA/DOW/KIA Memorial

Real County Public Library

Obelisk about John Leakey and his wife Nancy first settlers in this area.

1936 Real County Marker

Mural on the side of an art gallery.

Cemetery entrance

Masonic Lodge #622 chartered in 1884. Building erected in 1950.

St. Raymond Catholic Church

1922 Leakey Methodist Church

Plaque recognizing congregation started in 1883 with a circuit riding minister.

2008 School Gym

Fountain in front of gym dedicated in memory of Marcus ‘Mijo’ Martinez (1992-2012)

Original Church of Christ building had to move to make room for U.S. 83 construction back in the 30’S. This building was erected in 1952.

First of two building comprising the Real County Historical Museum.

Second museum building.

McGregor 9/5/2022

McGregor is just SW of Waco on Hwy 84. It is a medium sized town of around 8,000 people. It spans the McLennan County/Coryell County Line. It is home to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It is served by Amtrac. We parked at the Lutheran Church to do our walking tour.

Impressive 1922 red brick Gothic Lutheran Church.

Cute planter on a front porch has a primrose planted in it.

New version of  a 1895 Colonial Revival/Queen Anne home that burned in 2014.

First Baptist Church

Semi Truck mailbox

First United Methodist Church

100 year old church is now “Gloryland McGregor”

Homemade truck in front of junk shop.

Storefront style Post Office

Proud Past and Bright Future mural

 The windows of Tobacco Junction have been filled in and painted.

Art Deco former Ritz Theater is now the public library.

1904 newspaper closed in 2021 when owner died, but it has since re-opened.

1889 Bank building, currently vacant.

Mural with school mascot and game schedule.

Former Masonic Lodge

Former Odd Fellows Lodge

Active Amtrac Depot

Ed was looking at fire hydrant next to VFD

Horse drawn hose cart on other side of fire station.

Brick Gazebo in Legacy Park.

Magnolia House – featured on the “Fixer Upper” tv show. It is now a B&B.

Old rubble rock style wall around school athletic field. Could be WPA, but no record found.

Goldthwaite 8/27/2022

Goldthwaite  is the Mills County Seat.  It is located at the intersection of TX-16 and US-183.  North of Lampasas, south of Brownwood.  It is in the Texas Hill Country.   It is a wonderful small town.  

Mural of a modern Davy Crocket with cell phone and bottled beer.

The Goldthwaite Eagle Newspaper is the only paper in all of Mills County.

The former Wagon Wheel Restaurant, has a new business.

1912 Mills County Courthouse.

1888 Jail was used as such until 1950’s. Now home to the Chamber of Commerce.

Gulf “icebox style” with White porcelain enamel panel exterior from the 40’s.

Disaster Memorial  for a man who died while digging a water well at this location.

Confederate Monument erected in 1915

Another CSA marker

Signs at entrance to City Park.

Dry creek bed in park. Used to be fed by springs.

Brick picnic tables are scattered throughout the park.

Bathrooms are closed (permanently?)

Nice covered pavilion.

Playground

Lonely picnic table under another pavilion.

Swimming pool is located in the park.

1936 Methodist Church, congregation organized in the 1850’s.

Carousel Horses at The Barre Room Fitness Center.

Buckboard yard art.

Eagle Stadium

Church of Christ

Looked down as I walked along and spotted this.

1949 Baptist Church

Baptist Youth Center across street from church.

Mural on the side of the museum.

Time/Temp sign back at courthouse square as we finish our walk.

Our 5K Walk route around town

Bronte 8/13/2022

Bronte is 12 miles east of Robert Lee, the Coke County Seat. Founded in the late 1880s the town was originally named Oso. The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway arrived in 1909. We parked at the old depot to do our walk.

Water tower on hill west of Depot.

Howitzer on display next to depot.

County war memorial at depot.

Ed in front of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Depot as we start our walk.

Church of Christ

Longhorns is school mascot.  Longhorn cow and calf in front of Elementary School.

Unregistered Lil Library needs some maintenance.  Doors won’t stay shut.

Longhorn in front of the High School.

All that is left of the WPA school is the steps.

Shop class made some nice benches.

First United Methodist Church

First Baptist Church

Historical marker gives information on the town.

Ed and the stagecoach that welcomes you to town.

Archway entrance to cemetery.

Central Baptist Church

Mural looks like band players.

Mural on business

Post Office

CSA marker in front of City Hall.

Welcome to Bronte mural.

Another unregistered little library box.

Vintage movie theater.

Archer City 7/30/2022

Archer City is hometown of Larry McMurtry, famous Texas novelist and bibliophile.  
The town was the setting for two movies written by McMurtry.  The ruins of the theater of “The Last Picture Show” remain across the street from the courthouse.

Only the facade with the neon sign remains of this famous theater featured in “The Last Picture Show”.

1891 Romanesque Revival style courthouse.

1910 County Jail. It ceased being a jail in 1974. It is now a museum.

First of two water towers we walked past.

Covered Wagon mural on fence.

Public Library is available for all residents of the county at no charge.

Visitor’s Center is located in an old gas station complete with pumps.

Gas station mural next to the visitor’s center.

Fiberglass horse covered in cattle brands.

Welcome to Archer City Mural.

First Baptist Church

2016 Jr High and High School.

School mascot on fake cannon out front.

Unregistered little library box at elementary school next door.

School library

A house I liked.

Another nice house.

Another nice house.

Wildcat stadium is on the other side of town from the school.

Cowboy Church

United Methodist Church

Back by the courthouse.

City Hall is located in the old Masonic Lodge.