History

The tremendous oil boom in 1917 at Ranger in Eastland County attracted attention to this area including Stephens County. The discovery of such vast wealth so near excited everyone so that cowboys, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and nearly everyone else quit their jobs and joined the new search for “black gold”. Finally oil was struck west and north of Breckenridge and Stephens County entered a new era. Since that time, the oil industry has contributed greatly to the prosperity and growth of Breckenridge.

Attractions

1. Swenson Memorial Museum, Stephens County’s Historical Museum, and J.D. Sandefer Oil Museum.
2. Breckenridge Fine Arts Center – visual art and educational exhibits.
3. Breckenridge Aviation Museum
4. Murals – we have (8) through out the town.

The Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce has a good attractions page with information about these places.  Stop by the Chamber for tourist info.

Dining

Familia  Mexican Restaurant (3705 W. Walker Street) excellent service, food and prices – atmosphere is friendly, polite and the food is good all the time.  My favorites, Pollo Asada, Pollo a la Mexicana and of course the Chicken (pollo) Faijtas.

The Marketplace (117 N. Breckenridge Ave.) great place to shop and dine – you can actually purchase the items in the restaurant as the antiques are for sale. This place offers really fresh tasty food with a variety of sandwiches, soups, fruit and salad bar. My favorite, Turkey Avocado with Fat Free Sun Dried Tomato Basil Vinegarette Salad, topped off with fresh fruit and Peach Ice Tea.  Yum!

Pit Stop Barbecue (817 S. Breckenridge Ave.) This place’s decor is NASCAR! Yeah baby… A great place to go and watch the latest sports event on the Big Screen. They have great barbecue, good steaks and very friendly service. Fun atmosphere.

4. Sweet Stuff and Coffee (100 East William) See the web site.  They invite people traveling through to stop in for a healthy lunch complete with drink selection and plenty of desert options.  Home made pies and cakes, they make candy in the store: Carmel ,Fudge, Peanut Brittle , Pecan Brittle , Tabasco Brittle, and cookies.

Lodges

People come to Breckenridge to hunt.  Popular accommodations for hunters hunting.

The Lodge RV Park – they have camping, hunting, RV and bunk houses available. Five separate leases with a variety of hunting options available, from day hunts to season passes.

The Homestead House – Classically remodeled farmhouse from the 1920′s over 300 acres for hunting various types of wildlife.

The Keeping Room Bed & Breakfast – Built in 1929, conveniently located on Highway 180.  Not just for hunters.

Rural Drives

There are so many routes you can take for a pretty drive.  Hwy 67 to Graham, Ranch Road 717 N to Possum Kingdom Lake, or 717 S to Ranger and Eastland.  Hwy 180 to Mineral Wells is a pretty drive.  I’ve traveled so many back roads that are breathtaking. There’s so much wildlife here. In less than a mile I have seen cattle/deer on the side of the road, bobcat running across the road, tarantula spiders big enough to blow out you tire crossing the road, jack rabbits hopping along the road, and coyotes running off into the fields.

I love the dawn with the rise of the sun and the dusk with the setting of the sun. Each view is different every time.   One thing never changes, in this place you can step back in time, like America use to be. The American Family with views, morals and ethics. Everyone here is family.

I really like it when it rains here; the rainfall puts a fresh coat of rich paint on the hills. The stars are big and bright, the night is quiet and the mornings are peaceful.  This is a good place with a lot of history to be told past, present and future.

Images

County: Stephens

map

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

Thing is, I live in North Texas, and North Texas is not the best place for fall foliage.  Fall foliage viewing around here is basically a micro experience.  You drive until you find an area that presents a montage of understory colors and adjacent trees displaying their own rich colors.  When you find this, your there.  Take the picture.

I thought I would put together my list of great places to see fall foliage starting from the Dallas Fort Worth area. Not an exhaustive nor authoritative list by any means, but just recommendations based on my own experiences.

Palo Pinto County, Farm Road 4, Highway 16, and Mineral Well State Park. This is a short drive from the Metroplex. The Palo Pinto Mountains are stunning to see, for us flat-landers anyway. There’s plenty of mature forest available for potential fall foliage photo ops. Mineral Well State Park is great for camping and hiking and relaxing. Possum Kingdom State Park is also near by. For an entirely different perspective you can canoe down the Brazos River.

Tyler Texas and Tyler State Park are not that far from Dallas and Fort Worth.  A plus for travel convenience.   Tyler is a great East Texas town with plenty to see and do.  Plenty of tree-lined streets plus the Tyler Rose Garden is nice most times of the year.  Work Gladewater into your return trip if you want to do some antiqueing.

Arkansas Scenic Highway 7 starting at Arkadelphia or Hot Springs. Scenic 7 manders throught the Ouachita Mountains then the River Valley Region and onto the soaring Ozarks.  Hot Springs is quite a destination itself.  DeGray Lake Resort State Park is another great option for a comfortable stopping off point during your drive.  Heading further north, the view gets better.  beyond Russelleville the mountains and the views get big.  There are several stand out primitive camp grounds in the are of Pelsor Arkansas, Haw Creek Falls Campground, and the Richland Creek Campgrounds and Wilderness Area.  Consider this if your into primitive camping and challenging hikes.  A link for general information and locations at Arkansas.com

Petit Jean State Park is Arkansas’s first state park, featuring stunning views, enchanting woodlands laced with streams and wildflowers, and a spectacular waterfall—Cedar Falls.  The Park has several fine trails, but the Ceder Falls Trail in particular is great for foliage viewing.  A moderately tough trail leading into a picturesque valley graced by the Cedar Falls.  From personal experience I can say that this is a great fall hike.  There are hundreds of campsites, and Mather Lodge for those seeking more comfortable accommodations.

Magazine Mountain State Park is an outstanding state park on the highest peak in Arkansas. Limited camping and R.V. spaces.  Book well in advance.  Can get very cold in November and with very little warning.  Outstanding views.  Bears and large cats also live on the mountain.

I will update this article with pictures if I have time.  Constructive comments encouraged.  Where did you see great fall foliage in or near Texas?

Arkansas fall foliage report

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

In a previous post I talked about several old town squares in the heart of Northwest Arkansas, and I concluded with the Rogers Historic District and Scenic Highway 12. That’s where I begin this post.

Scenic Highway 12 in Northwest Arkansas passes through Rogers Arkansas and then through some truly beautiful Ozark countryside. Just the scenery makes this road a good choice for those heading east to destinations like Eureka Springs and the Buffalo River. As you drive out of Rogers you pass through the beautiful country surrounding Beaver Lake. The views of the lake are at time dramatic. Beaver Lake is huge and if your a water sports person or have a boat or personal water craft, this is a lake worth researching.

As you push on a little further the road starts winding as it climbs through the Ozark Mountains. Again, the views are beautiful. For a while your passing through the Hobbs State Park Conservation Area. The area is so inviting that I stopped to walk the Historic Van Winkle Trail. Not much of a hike but plenty of fun and a great way to spend a little more time in the area.

The War Eagle Mill is just a bit out of the park on War Eagle Road. This is an interesting place, and well worth a stop to see. It’s a working water powered grist mill, the forth mill built at this location, on the War Eagle River.

The first mill was built in the 1830′s by Sylvanus Blackburn, but washed away in 1848. The second mill was burned by order of a Confederate general to prevent the Union Army’s capture and use of the mill. James A.C. Blackburn, son of Sylvanus, reconstructed a third mill in 1873. The current mill was built in 1973 by Jewell A. and Leta Medlin and Zoe Medlin Caywood on the original site and foundation and is intended to be an authentic reproduction of the 1873 mill.

Reproduction or not this is a very realistic example of an old grist mill. The power for the stone buhr grinders inside the War Eagle mill comes from an 18-foot undershot waterwheel driven by the waters of the War Eagle River. I’d been through mills like this before, but never had I seen one work before. When the belts are turning and the grinder is grinding and the flower is flowing into the bag, the experience comes alive. Forget your imagination, this place really works.

They sell flowers and meals ground on site along with other crafts and souvenirs. On the top floor of the mill there’s the Bean Palace Restaurant where they serve foods authentic to the region and time of the earlier mills.

The War Eagle Mill and its surroundings are interesting. The area is beautiful. There’s an old metal bridge across the War Eagle River in front of the mill. You can walk along the banks of the river for an alternative perspective and a better view of the undershot water wheel.

War Eagle is a ghost town and you may find other items of interest. I hope you enjoy the War Eagle Mill.

After seeing all the mill has to offer it’s back on Scenic Highway 12 heading east, and you needing to choose between several great destinations. Head north on Highway 23 and end up in Eureka Springs. Or, head off south on Highway 23, travel the back roads for more beautiful cruising time and end up in Lost Valley. Here you find yourself at the furthest western reaches of the Buffalo National River (U.S. Nation Park Service). As the name implies, the river is the attraction, but the rugged natural beauty of the area is equally spectacular. Anyway you go, it’s a great ride.

War Eagle Arkansas

County: Benton

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

This is a great stretch of highway. There are some historic attractions along the way, and plenty of opportunities to stop and look around. Some of the historic attractions have been polished up, but a lot of what I saw was unvarnished. Buildings and places from a bygone era should look old. Kind of like a rare old coin or piece of antique furniture: worth more in its original state. Clean the tarnish from a rare old coin, and its value is diminished. The knocks and dings are part of the provenance of the piece. In other words old stuff looks more authentic if you don’t fix it up too much.

Stroud Oklahoma

Rock Cafe Stroud Oklahoma

Rock Cafe Stroud Oklahoma

I started out in Stroud Oklahoma. The town’s old commercial district is just west of Highway 99 on Route 66. Here you’ll find the Rock Cafe, a Route 66 Roadside Attraction. The business was established in 1939, and constructed with rock unearthed during the original road construction. This is a real sweet place with an old neon sign out front. It’s still a cafe too. Some locals own the place and had their kids waiting tables, the day I was there. I love it when these places are still active businesses. [The Rock Cafe burns May 20, 2008. They intend to rebuild. More]

Stroud Oklahoma Skyliner Motel

Stroud Oklahoma Coke Sign

A little further west on 66, on the same side of the street, was a nice old Coca Cola sign on the side of an old building. Then after that there’s a little park with a gazebo and an vintage water tower behind it. On the corner of Route 66 and Highway 99 was an old motel with a classy neon sign. The Skyliner Motel, that name just reeks of the 1950′s.

Chandler Oklahoma

Chandler Oklahoma Lincoln Motel

Chandler Oklahoma is a few miles further west on Route 66. This town has several roadside attractions worth stopping to check out. The Lincoln Motel is on the main road and you can’t miss it. This is a classic 1930′s motor court. Small wooden cabins each house two rental units. The whole place is finished with dark brown paint or stain. Very rustic! Neon sing out front, too.

Chandler Oklahoma Interpretive Center

A little further down the road is the Chandler Route 66 Interpretive Center, housed in a 1930’s-era armory building on the crossroads of Route 66 and Mickey Clarkson Avenue. They have video presentations that tell the story of Route 66, America’s Mother Road.

Chandler Oklahoma Phillip's 66

In the main commercial district is the historic Phillip’s 66 Station. It’s closed but still interesting to see. On the next block is the Lincoln County Museum of Pioneer History. The museum was closed and I didn’t get to visit, but you should stop in and ask questions.

Chandler Oklahoma St. Cloud Hotel

Across the street is the office of the local news paper. The St Cloud Hotel is a couple buildings down the street. Researching on the Internet, I found little about this property. it’s a National Register property and I found it on a list of endangered Route 66 hotels. Closed and in need of repairs, it has some nice old painted signs.

Chandler Oklahoma Seaba Station

Just a bit out of town is the Seaba Station. It was built in 1924 as a filling station and garage and operated continually until 1996. Today the building is still a work in progress. It houses an antique store and some sort of repair shop. This is another designated Route 66 Roadside Attraction.

Filling Station on Route 66 West of Luther Oklahoma

West of the town of Luther is a 1920′s filling station. it’s just a shell of a building now. A small sign tells the story of the place. It was built in the late Teens or early 1920′s. This was before electricity so gas was sold out of a 50 gallon drum. The building was heated with a fireplace.

Arcadia Oklahoma

Arcadia Oklahoma Round Barn

Arcadia Oklahoma Round Barn

The next major town is Arcadia. The big attraction in Arcadia, and along this stretch of Route 66, is the Round Barn. This historic barn was built by William Odor in 1898. By 1988 the barn was severely deteriorated and some time after that the roof collapsed. The owners deeded the property to the Arcadia Historical Society. A group known as the over the hill 60′s gang got involved with the restoration and in cooperation with local business and many volunteers the Historic Round Barn in Arcadia was restored.

Even on the day I visited the barn, a local volunteer was busy painting. He showed a real sense of pride in the barn and the work that had been done by the community. According to this fellow, the barn was originally built as a place to have dances and meetings. The ground level of the barn was for livestock and farm business, but the second level of the barn was a place for meetings and dances. The second level of the round barn is still a place to have a party or dance. It can be rented for a reasonable rate. The ground level is a gift shop today.

Cains Ballroom in Tulsa Oklahoma

This was the end of my Route 66 journey. It took 2 or 3 hours to travel the 40 miles from Stroud to Arcadia Oklahoma. I could have easily spent more time exploring, but I needed to be on my way. If you wanted to extend this trip by a few more hours, the ride through Tulsa is interesting. There are several landmark Route 66 attractions in Tulsa. Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa has a rich history. The stretch of the Mother Road from Tulsa to Claremore has plenty of marked attractions and would also make a good extension of the trip I describe here.

Let me know if you make your own Route 66 trip. Leave a comment or drop us an email. Most of all, if you do travel the Mother Road be sure to stop and visit with the people along the way. That’s the best part of road trip travel, meeting the locals and discovering the people and stories behind the places you visit.

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

If your spending several days in the area, you would probably go to Dinosaur Valley State Park, check out the historic downtown, see the musical drama The Promise, and maybe run by Fossil Rim Wildlife Ranch. If your an RV-er you might stay at Tres Rios Park or maybe Oakdale Park. But what if your just driving through and your stay is going to be more like three hours instead of three days? That’s what this short article focuses on.

Glen Rose Texas Short Stays

For a short stay, I would still say the historic downtown is a must see. It’s a classic small town square. The historic courthouse building is occupied by the historical society and available to visit and also a source of information. There are other old buildings and shops and restaurants. I talk a little more about the the town square in this post.

A little way up the road from downtown is an old hangout called the City of Glen Rose Big Rocks Park. As the name says, there are big rocks, result of some geologic event thousands of years ago that I completely don’t understand. What makes it interesting is that the Paluxy River flows by the rocks and the river bed is rock. The unusual rock forms and the river make for an interesting place to hang out for a little bit. Maybe longer if your dressed to wade in the water which is a popular pastime here in the early summer when there’s still water in the Paluxy.

Barnard’s Mill and Barnard’s Mill Art Museum are on the same property and open to the public. The museum has a few interesting pieces of art on display; among them bronze and oil paintings by Robert Summers. The work of Morris Henry Hobbs and Amy Jackson are also well represented. The old mill is now open for touring. This is one of the oldest standing buildings in this part of the state. Not much remains of the milling equipment, dam, or millrace but the buildings and grounds are interesting to see. The Barnard’s Mill complex is worth a look. Call for hours and information.

I’ve expressed my preference for Hammond’s Barbecue elsewhere, but there are other good places to eat in town.

Dinosaur Valley State Park is a few miles west of Glen Rose off F.M. 205. It may cost too much to get in for just a short stay, but if you have a Texas State Parks Pass you can get into every park in the state with it. Real handy if your road tripping in Texas. The attraction at this park is, you guessed it, Dinosaur Tracks. The wildflowers can be plentiful here in the springtime.

As you travel further west from Glen Rose Texas on US Highway 67, you will pass through a hilly area. The change in scenery is pleasant after so much flat land. Chalk Mountain seems to be the biggest hill in this passage of travel, and there’s a road side park at the top of this hill. There’s really nothing there except the view and usually a cool breeze. Technically the place is called Somervell County Picnic Area No. 50.

Within a mile of the road side park is the ghost town Chalk Mountain. As you may guess, there’s not a lot there either. Some people like these ghost towns though and so I mention it. There’s an old Masonic Lodge there, and a very nice old cemetery. It’s funny how the cemeteries are so well cared for in these old ghost towns. Must be the ghosts come out at night to tidy up. The Masonic Lodge is easy to find because it’s close to US Highway 67. The cemetery is a little farther down the road, and as I recall you have to turn left when CR-198 tees off and follow it for a while. I wrote about this place a while back and Texas Escapes published it here.

Location

Various locations around Glen Rose Texas

County: Somervell

Map

Copyright © 2008 By Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved

Gallery

They open in April, check their Web site for details. Chandor Gardens is the work of the well known twentieth century artist Douglas Chandor. He was an Englishman who came to America in 1926 and established himself as a portrait painter. Some of his better known subjects were Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

Chandor married Ina Kuetman and they settled in her hometown of Weatherford Texas. The couple began building their home and Gardens in 1936. Over a period of 16 years Douglas Chandor converted a cactus covered hillside into a truly outstanding one-man garden that remains today as a testament to his gardening and artistic skills.

Chandor himself died in 1953, but his wife kept the gardens open to the public until 1978. Over a period of time the estate fell into disrepair and then was restored and sold to the city of Weatherford in 2002. Today the gardens are open to the public for viewing during scheduled hours for a small fee. They also host parties, wedding, and special events. See the Web site for details.

The gardens are broken up into 18 distinct areas or “rooms” featuring English and Chinese motifs. Water and fountains are featured in many of the garden settings. The mansion and courtyard are also quite impressive.

As I walked through these historic gardens, it occurred to me that Chandor Gardens must reflect the art and tastes of Douglas Chandor. While enjoying the Dragon Fountain and Buddha Niche, two adjacent rooms in the garden, my thoughts drifted to folk art. Folk art typically features strong local influences and varied use of materials. The opulent green glass that fringes the base of the Dragon Fountain is, in fact, some sort of commodity green glass bottle. I’m guessing maybe a 1940′s beverage of some sort. This in no way detracts from the overall beauty of the fountain. In fact it occurred to me that this may be the greater art of the artist. Although Chandor was an accomplished portrait painter by training; his greatest and most expressive works may well be on display not at the Smithsonian but here in Chandor Gardens.

Updates

2010 update from Steve:

Opening weekend for 2010 will be April 3 and 4. The new bronze dragons are now in place on the Dragon Fountain. Last year, we removed the originals and had them restored. Then we cast them in bronze, installed the bronzes in the Dragon fountain, and placed the restored originals in the house (they are not weatherproof).

This update on the 2009 season came from Steve Chamblee, horticulturist at Chandor Gardens.

New and Important Changes

• Opening weekend, April 4&5 this year, is always fun and busy. Admission is just $1, just like Ina used to charge, and we’ll have music, some food, The Texas Bee Charmer, Ask a Master Gardener, and I’m doing a talk on Texas Tough Plants.
• The Labyrinth is located in the center of the garden, on top of an old parking lot. I like that people who are enlightened to labyrinths absolutely love it and get all excited and involved with it; and those who don’t know what it is just kind of go, “Hrmpt…whatever.”
• I am literally in the middle of installing the new bronze sculptures in the Dragon Fountain. (The old ones were very weather-worn, and we’ve had them restored, but they are not weather-proof.) They will have jets of water spraying out of the dragons’ mouths, just like Chandor had them operating back in the day.
• We have replanted lots of pocket areas around the garden, so there is always something new and fresh to see.
• We have lots more koi than last year.
• On sort of a historic note, we are starting new roses for the main pergola in the Silver Garden.
• And we’ve done lots of irrigation work, which no one cares about but us gardeny folks.

The Hours

Officially, we are open to the public from the first weekend of April through mid-November, Saturdays 9am to 3pm, and Sundays 1pm to 5pm. The “strangeness” of these hours allows us to have lots of wedding here, which pays the light bill. Other than that, we are officially open other times by appointment. Our nickels and dimes budget does not allow us to reliably keep staff here other than those hours.

So, all of that being said, I tell people if they want to visit other than the official hours, just call ahead. 99% of the time, we can easily accommodate people. The main number is 817-613-1700, and my number is 817-598-4029.

Peace & Love,

Steven Chamblee

Location

711 West Lee Ave. Weatherford Texas, 7606

The Official Chandor Gardens Web Site

http://www.chandorgardens.com/

County: Parker

Bibliographic note: Most of the information presented here was extracted from a fact sheet provided at Chandor Gardens during my visit.

Copyright © 2008 by Sam Fenstermacher
All rights reserved