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My lake house is just north of Harleton and I have spent 40 years visiting the area. Harleton does not even have a stop light it is so small. It has a small grocery/gas station but you really have to go into Longview or Marshall for any serious shopping (about 1/2 hr to Longview and 20 min to Marshall). The area is beautiful and Lake O the Pines is right down the street (so to speak, actually about 6 miles). There is a mix of very nice homes and some run down areas. I've done the drive from Tyler to Harleton, and from Harleton to Hot Springs in the last 6 months. To Tyler, the commute is about 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min. The commute to Texarkana is about 1 hr 30 min.
I grew up there and it is a very beautiful place. However, be careful. Some parts of town as well as East Texas as a whole has a BIG racial problem. If you are white, you will have no problems anywhere you go. And you will also have no problems if you can stomach some of the bigots. If you are a minority you won't have such a fun time. It seems to have gotten better there, with the older bigots passing on. Longview was peculiar when I was growing up, the racial problem was sooo bad, but the bigots when speaking publicly pretended nothing was wrong. I would read about the Jasper incident where a black man was drug to his death behind a pickup truck behind some whites.The Klan is also still very active in East Texas also! So look out!
I would consider Gilmer, Lindale, Mineola, Quitman, Big Sandy. Depends on how small of a town you're looking for and what kinds of activities you'd like to have close. Let me know if you need further help.
Where, do you hear these things, we hear nothing in the news or otherwise about the klan in Tyler? geez, we are not that backwards, yes, maybe some DEEP East Texas very small towns, yep.
well.. YouTube - Southeast Texas Reputation I don't know if this is just media trying to make things seem different than they are or if it is really like that in Vidor. This is the one about Lindin Old South racism lives in Texas town -- chicagotribune.com Once again with out seeing the town or talking to anyone that actually lives there I don't know if it is actually a racist town. I don't believe everyting that is posted up on the internet. Does anyone have any personal experiences with this? or information on any other towns that may be racist, or have klan activity? Any info would be great.
I grew up there and it is a very beautiful place. However, be careful. Some parts of town as well as East Texas as a whole has a BIG racial problem. If you are white, you will have no problems anywhere you go. And you will also have no problems if you can stomach some of the bigots. If you are a minority you won't have such a fun time. It seems to have gotten better there, with the older bigots passing on. Longview was peculiar when I was growing up, the racial problem was sooo bad, but the bigots when speaking publicly pretended nothing was wrong. I would read about the Jasper incident where a black man was drug to his death behind a pickup truck behind some whites.The Klan is also still very active in East Texas also! So look out!
You just have to use some common sense about your surroundings no matter who you are or what race you are. If I were of color & I knew insert town population 10 people flew Confederate flags on their front porch I wouldn't exactly want to stick around to find out who their mayor was.
The same way I wouldn't go take a leisurely stroll around Oak Cliff or 5th Ward at night being white.
Common sense can get you a long way in life if you let it.
From what I've personally seen, the Golden Triangle area gets a lot worse rep than it deserves. And if it were really that bad, Jefferson county wouldn't have voted majority for Obama, which it did. However it doesn't help that just about all the towns that surround Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange are 1% black, while the 3 cities that make the triangle are about 25%.
I can't speak for the rest of deep East TX. The TX/LA border is rumored to be pretty notorious though.
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Longview is great,but...
So look out!
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