Where does it begin...? (Houston, Dallas: high school, contractor, college)

[TexasReb]

Good morning fellow Texans, and is often a habit of mine, I am starting a new thread this fine Sunday morning!

Backtracking a bit, the topic of this one is akin to one we did last year. That is, "Where Does East Texas Start?"

http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas...xas-start.html

In this case however, I am wondering (and truly curious) as to where, in y'alls opinions, ANY region of Texas "starts." Not just East Texas. And of course, noting that a lot of this will depend on which direction and along which highways one is used to taking...

To lead off here, and repeat, on the route I usually take to Caddo Lake, I have always considered Greenville to be where East Texas begins. It just seems that about there (travelling along Hwy 69), the land and "moodscape" noteably changes. Pine trees spring up and the whole thing evolves undeniably (IMHO) from that vibrancy of North Texas into that sweet "gentle fatalism" of East Texas and the "romantic South".

West Texas? Well, when I was growing up, my grandparents lived in Lubbock and we used to make that trek along US 82. About the other side of Seymour, I always sensed something different. So I guess, to me, West Texas lies along a Vernon to Seymour to Abilene line.

South Texas I am less sure of, but if I had to call it, I would peg it at about San Antone...where Central Texas becomes South Texas.

Y'all...?

[destin04]

I know if you look on the "regional" map of Texas the "Piney Woods" region starts just east of Dallas and goes down to College Station area and cuts across to the LA border. It stays just above the "Coastal Bend" region. I consider that to be east Texas. Although after living here for 8 months I know a lot of people who refer to it as the "Upper East Side" of Texas....I'm sure some Chamber of Commerce came up with that. LOL! If you talk to a northener they refer the Amarillo as North Texas! We call it the panhandle...the "north" Texas area was always DFW area to me. Go figure.....

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by destin04

I know if you look on the "regional" map of Texas the "Piney Woods" region starts just east of Dallas and goes down to College Station area and cuts across to the LA border. It stays just above the "Coastal Bend" region. I consider that to be east Texas. Although after living here for 8 months I know a lot of people who refer to it as the "Upper East Side" of Texas....I'm sure some Chamber of Commerce came up with that. LOL! If you talk to a northener they refer the Amarillo as North Texas! We call it the panhandle...the "north" Texas area was always DFW area to me. Go figure.....

Good one, Destin! And that is sorta my point. That is to say, where do "you" personally, think (Region) begins...as squares with your own experience/emotions/feelings/etc

[TexasHorseLady]

Where the red and sandy soil begins and the pine trees become common.

[case44]

South Texas pretty much begins at San Antonio if you go southward. New Braunfels is considered part of Central Texas. To answer your Seymour/Vernon inquiry, you can pretty well say you're in West Texas once you get west of Seymour. North of U.S. 82, you could call that region Northwest Texas. I've even sometimes heard Lubbock referred to as Northwest Texas, and in a sense, that would be correct, but the tradition there is that it's been called West Texas out there. Lubbock, by and large, is in West Texas. Amarillo and the Panhandle region would be considered Northwest Texas. What gets me, though, is that I've heard of Brownwood being in Central Texas. How I know is that I caught something on YouTube and it was a Brownwood cable access channel and they mentioned it on their local newscast. Interesting.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Good morning fellow Texans, and is often a habit of mine, I am starting a new thread this fine Sunday morning!

Backtracking a bit, the topic of this one is akin to one we did last year. That is, "Where Does East Texas Start?"

Since I seem to always be traveling east and west across Texas, North and South Texas will always remain a mystery to me, as will the location of "Central Texas." However, many years ago I used to say that east and west Texas were defined by where most families in a region regularly traveled to or vacationed in. If most families traveled east to visit family in Mississippi, Louisiana or Alabama, or to vacation spots like Epcot Center or Disney World, their town was in east Texas. If most in a community traveled north or west to visit family in Colorado, Wyoming, California, or New Mexico, or they vacationed at the Grand Canyon, they were west Texas.

As a deep east Texas lad many years ago, I do recall hurriedly looking at a U.S. map when I first received military orders for a place called New Mexico. Nowadays with folks coming into Texas from every direction I find it best to look to the community to see what they consider themselves. If the truck says EastTexas Electrical Contractor on the door, the town is in east Texas. If it says West Texas Plumbing Supplies, it is west Texas. If a truck on the west side of a town says West Texas Plumbing Supplies and a truck on the east side says East Texas Electrical Contractor, you're in Central Texas.

Lol! I can't recall my high school geography teacher but they must be rolling in their grave right now.

[garxhap]

Down here in Houston we make it easy. We have a freeway called the Eastex Freeway. If you get on it, as soon as you are out of the Houston suburbs you are in East Texas.

[Stan41]

East Texas starts 1 mile east of Goldthwaite on top of the ridge of mountains above the town. All the water that falls east of this ridge eventually flows to the Brazos river and all that falls west of this ridge finally gets into the Colorado.
Kind of a "Continental Divide"
Stan

[NOTAM]

oh no way! not even close! goldwaithe and the vicinity-even an hour east of Goldwaithe aint "East Texas" by any stretch of the imagination. i live east of Goldwaithe and there is nothing here resembling East Texas...Central Texas is TOTALLY different!
I would say Goldwaithe is Central/West Texas.

Originally Posted by Stan41

East Texas starts 1 mile east of Goldthwaite on top of the ridge of mountains above the town. All the water that falls east of this ridge eventually flows to the Brazos river and all that falls west of this ridge finally gets into the Colorado.
Kind of a "Continental Divide"
Stan

[case44]

Originally Posted by Stan41

East Texas starts 1 mile east of Goldthwaite on top of the ridge of mountains above the town. All the water that falls east of this ridge eventually flows to the Brazos river and all that falls west of this ridge finally gets into the Colorado.
Kind of a "Continental Divide"
Stan

Say what???!!! Either you've had too much Shiner Bock, or you've fallen asleep in geography class, my friend. There's this thing called Interstate 35 that is located just east of the middle of the state going north to south. And even after that going eastbound from where you are, you're still not in East Texas. This is Texas, Stan, not Rhode Island.