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08-04-2009, 07:16 PM
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Wow! Thanks for checking in on "my" place for me!!!!! I'm kind of at a crossroads. I love the place, but not sure about the town. Would really like something more western/cowboy/ride your horse up to the local saloon type of place! But I haven't written it off yet. Still researching. But dang if I'm not ready to hire you as our personal tour guide!
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08-04-2009, 07:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stillkit
To the OP:
In case you're interested in such things, here's a website which tells a little about it and there is a museum in Plano, which includes a restored motor car.
Texas Electric Railway |
PS - love this link, by the way. What a great tidbit of history  |
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08-04-2009, 08:08 PM
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1,056 posts, read 287,047 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lallen2004
Wow! Thanks for checking in on "my" place for me!!!!! I'm kind of at a crossroads. I love the place, but not sure about the town. Would really like something more western/cowboy/ride your horse up to the local saloon type of place! But I haven't written it off yet. Still researching. But dang if I'm not ready to hire you as our personal tour guide!
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If that's what you're looking for, search around for suitable places in Jacksboro or Graham. Lllano might be a good fit for you too. So might Weatherford or Stephenville.
You have to understand that Texas was, and still is, basically divided into cow country and farming country. There's a natural feature called the Balcones Escarpment, which runs parallel to I-35, from the Red River, where Denison is, to west of San Antonio. It's not all technically the escarpment, but by whatever name, it separates the state into two very different cultures.
The Old West, as most people imagine it, was almost exclusively found west of the escarpment. Once the pioneers crossed it, they were in Comanche country, which hindered settlement into the 1870's. It was a land of Indians and guns, Texas Rangers and renegades, wagon trains and isolated ranch houses, clinging to life by a hang nail. Nobody went out into the Comancheria to farm. The eastern parts of the state, however, were settled by farmers early in the history of Texas and a more settled and "civilized" society grew up there. Yes, they did their share of Indian fighting too, but by the 1850's, that was about over.
All the major cities, with the exception of El Paso, are east of that feature. The other, larger cities in West Texas, such as Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo and Wichita Falls, didn't come into existance until after the period of the Old West was either dead or dying. The High Plains and Panhandle weren't even settled until the early 20th century. The Permian Basin didn't have anyone in it until oil was discovered there.
Yes, there are cowboys and ranches there now (and extensive agriculture on the High Plains), but it never was real Old West country, except for trappers and buffalo hunters.
The Texas Old West you're looking for can still be found west of I-35 (Including Ft. Worth) as far as the edge of the Llano Estacado (High Plains) and southward to the Rio Grande.
Good luck with your search!
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08-04-2009, 08:54 PM
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951 posts, read 816,479 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lallen2004
Wow! Thanks for checking in on "my" place for me!!!!! I'm kind of at a crossroads. I love the place, but not sure about the town. Would really like something more western/cowboy/ride your horse up to the local saloon type of place! But I haven't written it off yet. Still researching. But dang if I'm not ready to hire you as our personal tour guide!
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Something like Bandera in the Hill Country might be more in line with what you're looking for, although it is much further south - Bandera, Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau ( Home )
Hico - Hico, Texas | Hill Country Weekend Getaway | Unique Shopping | B&Bs - is another area that is cultivating a tourist trade and is a little more "western". It's quite a bit closer to DFW than Bandera. |
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08-05-2009, 06:16 AM
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We have checked out many of the towns you've mentioned, including Bandera and Stephenville, both of which I fell in love with! Since we're looking to purchase an established B&B and/or wedding biz, though, our options are limited. We are exploring one in Wimberley and another in San Marcos which we undertsand are both in beautiful Hill Country.
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08-05-2009, 01:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lallen2004
We have checked out many of the towns you've mentioned, including Bandera and Stephenville, both of which I fell in love with! Since we're looking to purchase an established B&B and/or wedding biz, though, our options are limited. We are exploring one in Wimberley and another in San Marcos which we undertsand are both in beautiful Hill Country.
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San Marcos might not be a bad idea. It's not technically in the Hill Country, but sits right at the edge of. It's rapidly becoming a bedroom community for Austin, but has it's own attractions too, as well as a pretty large college. With people coming to visit their kids in school, plus vacationers looking for a base of operations for exploring the Hill Country, San Marcos would offer a better, more laid back and small-town feel that Austin or San Antonio.
New Braunfels, just down the road, wouldn't be a bad place to look either. It has Schilitterbahn, one of the nations premier water parks as a draw. |
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08-05-2009, 05:26 PM
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08-05-2009, 06:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakewooder
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Yeah! Gotta see Gruene Hall!  |
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08-05-2009, 10:21 PM
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If you google Wimberly loding/tourism you'll find lots of B&B's......they all seem to stay busy...that's a destination place for weddings, girls getaways, etc. Beautiful area, very central to the state and different from anything else in the state.
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08-06-2009, 06:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GayleTX
If you google Wimberly loding/tourism you'll find lots of B&B's......they all seem to stay busy...that's a destination place for weddings, girls getaways, etc. Beautiful area, very central to the state and different from anything else in the state.
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I'm getting some great feedback about Wimberley. Now if I could just move the property I fell in love with in Denison to the Wimberley area, I'd be golden! |
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