Sulphur Springs courthouse, 1894.
Architect: James Riely Gordon
Lovely town, gorgeous courtshouse! Same architect as Marshall and New Braunfels. Sulphur Springs has a lot of different industries and is a well-kept town, no homes for sale that we saw. Really nice town. Inside the courthouse was gorgeous!
Emory courthouse, 1908.
Architect: Andrew J. Bryan
Sort of an X shape. Interesting! Nice enough courthouse. Inside the courthouse was neat - I almost fell over the balcony in the courtroom!
Canton courthouse, 1937.
Architect: Voelcker and Dixon
An odd thing: the town tore down an old, gorgeous James Riely Gordon courthouse to get money from the WPA to build a new one and get jobs for the community!
The old courthouse, 1895, designed by the same architect who did Giddings, Marshall and New Braunfels, is commemorated in this mural in Canton.
Canton has a huge flea market called First Monday Trade Days every month that is what the town is known for. We weren't there on a first Monday, but from what we heard, we wished we were!
Quitman courthouse, 1925.
Architect: C. H. Leinbach
Quitman is home to Governor Hogg and his legendary Texas family. We took some really small backroads to get here - lovely!
Once here, we saw a massive traffic jam as 3 trucks hauling mobile homes tried to turn right in the center of town! The courthouse is lovely and we had lunch at the Hogg Park, which is not owned by Texas Parks and Wildlife anymore.
Quitman marker.
Mt. Vernon, 1912, being renovated.
Architect: L. L. Thurman
On our way here, we took more backroads and drove past a dairy farm and LOTS of Pilgrim's Pride chicken farms.
The courthouse is lovely, but the only one we couldn't go into today because of it being remodeled. Since most of our courthouse trips have been on weekends, we haven't been inside many! The old jail behind it is now the 4H building and an art museum.
Mt. Vernon jail, now home to 4H and an art museum!
Mt. Pleasant, 1940.
Architect: ???
Simple courthouse, it looked almost adobe-like to me. It was built in 1940, then allowed to denigrate to the "ugliest courthouse in Texas" status, by covering old exteriors with new uglier ones. It was renovated in the 1990's back to its 1940 look.
There was another Pilgrim's Pride chicken plant on the way out of town.
*Another benefit to being able to go inside the courthouses: clean bathrooms and no pressure to buy anything!
We set up camp at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park, and went out in search of wine, wood and dinner. This is another dry county, so we had to go back to Winfield for wine, and the only restaurant open near the park was Snappy Pappy's gas station. Aaron had a burger and I had a meatball sandwich, both of which were good. It was fun though!
Aaron's comments: Camping in Lake Bob Sandlin State Park. Today was awesome. We awoke at Cooper Lake having slept quite well. The night was interrupted only by the chatter of coyotes. Cooper Lake is a cool lake but it clearly is under a lot of stress. The water level is very low and the shoreline looks sad. The grounds of the park (we stayed on the south shore) are lovely and a great example of the terrain to be found in the area east of Dallas. Lots of rolling hills and wooded areas. Go, but don't go for the lake. Cooper proper is dry. The Big House Red gave up the ghost that night.
Dry counties became an issue today. Leaving the park, we headed to our first of six (!) courthouses. That being Sulphur Springs. A lovelier town we have scarcely come across. The courthouse is reminiscent of New Braunfels and Giddings. The central portion is occupied by a giant wrought iron staircase that ascends four stories and terminates in a spiral staircase which seems to float above an abyss. The spiral rises another three floors to the belltower. It is fantastic. The town, too, is lovely and generally well-kept. I think I could easily live in Sulphur Springs.
Emory came after Sulphur Springs. It was a relatively short drive and I nearly missed the courthouse. It is a smallish thing of only two stories. Remodeled in the nineties, it does boast a very nice, and open to the public, courtroom. The balcony above is pretty and you are close enough to the ceiling that you can see the pressed metal panels as your girlfriend plummets (nearly) to the courtroom floor (lovely wood) below...
We saw little of Emory proper aside from the courthouse and the square. Seeing as you pass through on your way to Sulphur Springs, you may as well stop so as to fully appreciate Sulphur Springs' house upon arrival.
Emory gave way to Canton. Canton is an interesting place. The square is dominated by the courthouse. It is of the WPA moderne style. Unashamedly so. How it came to be is quite another story. Some time in the early 30's the good people of Canton decided that to secure federal money and the associated jobs, they would tear down their courthouse and request money from the WPA for a new one. Don't get me wrong, I like the style of the moderne. It has a certain gravity that the older courthouses don't, but to tear it down what was clearly a lovely courthouse in the same style of that in Sulphur Springs (which you will recall I am quite fond of) to build a new one is just wrong! The Canton courthouse is nice and reminded me of Burnet.
So, having put Sulphur Springs, Emory, and Canton behind us in no time, we realized that we ought go slower and smell the roses. That is when the Texas Road Atlas came in handy. We started selecting back roads, then started taking back roads off them. Many were dirt. Many had no traffic save us. The homes were nice, though often in a state of advanced decay. One had apparently been eaten by a tree. The land between Canton and Quitman is easily some of the most beautiful I have seen in Texas. The boat stayed put regardless, as did the bikes. Kobi slept through the lot. The last bit of road we took was a section called 2100 and let me tell you, it was a sight. Rolling hills and glades, with burbling brooks, cows, farms, on and on and on.... But once in Quitman 2100 took on a whole new meaning.
Quitman is the county seat of Wood County. Wood County is the birthplace of Texas' first native born governor, James Hogg. The courthouse there is a Roman Revival style place, what with huge columns and dentitions, and pedants and stuff. It looks largely like an upscale office building dating from the '20's, which is more or less what it is. It hasn't seen much in the way of renovations. Go to Quitman anyway, the roads are fantastic. In the local Jim Hogg Park (bought by the city from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for ten dollars) they have dragged a historic bridge which once was a major part of 2100! We walked it with Kobi. Anne and I loved it, Kobi pooped.
More small roads, many dirt, later we were in Mt. Vernon. Mt. Vernon is a cute, dry town, that is in the middle of restoring its historic courthouse. On the day, it was the ONLY house we didn't get into.
The last house of the day was in Mt. Pleasant. Dry. In a dry county it must be difficult to be known for having the ugliest courthouse in the state. How else to forget your suffering? It is an old house, but has seen an odd series of renovations. It was built near the turn of the century and was extensively remodeled in 1940 to look more modern. Some time later I assume in the sixties or seventies, it was modified again. It gained a reputation statewide as the ugliest courthouse in all the land. There are no photos of it in that sad state. In the '90's the city / county got their collective heads together and decided to return it to the '40's look. I would describe it as WPA moderne on the cheap. Anne said it looks adobe. In a dry county, don't bother. Not far from Mt. Pleasant is a lovely little park called Lake Bob Sandlin State Park. Sandlin is one of the premier bass fishing destinations in the state. I brought my boat but no gear. Shame rides heavy upon me. A valid fishing permit resides in my wallet.
We made camp, in a lovely secluded spot and had a filling gas station dinner. Now Anne is reading and I type. In a few minutes I'll start the fire and we will roast marshmallows. Great day!!
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