On the Road

Travel through time with help from the Texas Historical Commission

Fort Griffin is home to historical landmarks and roaming longhorns.

Photo courtesy of Texas Historical Commission

History comes alive at so many places across the Lone Star State, with unique spots that honor the past and inspire an understanding of what it means to be a Texan.

The Texas Historical Commission preserves the important stories of the past at more than 30 historic sites across the state, from Native American villages and frontier forts to both everyday and elegant homes, along with the social and political leaders who lived in them.

For a road trip that doubles as a fascinating history lesson, be sure to hit these points of interest.

Get on coastal time
The southern portion of the Texas coast — roughly 100 miles of shoreline between Rockport and South Padre Island — offers a diverse range of heritage sightseeing opportunities.

Fulton Mansion State Historic Site (Rockport): The Fulton family home, with its mansard roof and ornate trim work, was progressive, luxurious, and rare in this part of Texas in the late 1800s. Overlooking Aransas Bay, it reflects George Fulton’s engineering skill and success as an inventor and rancher.

Port Isabel Lighthouse Historic Site (South Padre Island): Built in 1852, the 72-foot lighthouse is one of the only ones in Texas open to the public and offers beautiful views of coastal sites that aren't accessible elsewhere in the state.

Other points of interest include Rockport’s Texas Maritime Museum, where artifacts range from navigational devices to medical instruments and a large wooden model of the ship encased in glass; the historic Tarpon Inn in Port Aransas, which was built in 1886 with surplus lumber from Civil War barracks; and a tour of the massive USS Lexington in Corpus Christi Bay.

Hill Country history lesson
Historic ties matched by beautiful natural scenery make the Fredericksburg-to-Johnson City part of the Texas Hill Country an ideal route, with war museums, presidential parks, and exhibits along the way.

National Museum of the Pacific War (Fredericksburg): The museum is the only institution in the continental U.S. dedicated exclusively to telling the story of the Asiatic-Pacific Theater in World War II. Spanning six acres in downtown Fredericksburg, it features three galleries with more than 55,000 square feet of exhibit space, 40 media installations, 900-ish artifacts, and hundreds of photographs.

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (Stonewall): In this district of the park is the “Texas White House," the ranch home of the 36th president of the United States and where he entertained many world leaders. The other half of this park is located 14 miles to the east in Johnson City, where you’ll find his boyhood home and a visitors center with artifacts like two LBJ ranch branding irons, campaign memorabilia, wife Lady Bird’s crimson suit, and White House china.

On your journey through this part of the Hill Country, don’t miss one of the best-known dance halls around, Luckenbach Dance Hall. And of course, check out a few of the local vineyards, biergartens, and distilleries in the area.

Republic of Texas road trip
Step back in time and tour through a number of sites that represent the period of the Texas Republic.

San Felipe de Austin (San Felipe): The site preserves the location where Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas,” established his colony in 1823. A 10,000-square-foot visitors center shares the stories of Austin and his settlers through museum exhibits, multimedia and graphic displays, and outdoor tours of the historic landscape with its reconstructed townsite block.

Washington-on-the-Brazos (Washington): On March 2, 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at this location, marking the birthplace of the Republic of Texas. Today, the historic site rests where Washington once flourished and contains a reconstruction of Independence Hall, the Star of the Republic Museum, and Barrington Plantation, which was the home of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic.

Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site (Anson): This charming, historic building once hosted former Texas governor Sam Houston and 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor during the Republic of Texas era; its furnished rooms offer a glimpse into life on the Texas frontier 170 years ago.

San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site (La Porte): The remarkable 570-foot-tall monument here honors the legendary battleground where Texans defeated the Mexican Army in an 18-minute battle on April 21, 1836.

The monument — topped by a 34-foot star symbolizing the Lone Star Republic — also has an elevator ride to the observation deck, a 490-foot-tall vantage point that offers stunning views of the battlefield, reflecting pool, and nearby ship channel.

The adjoining San Jacinto Museum of History contains nearly 45,000 artifacts and writings spanning 400 years of Texas heritage.

From Western to Southern exposure
About 2.5 hours due west of Dallas, Albany is both a history and a nature lover’s haven. So is La Grange, about 3.5 hours due south of DFW and nestled along the Colorado River.

Fort Griffin (Albany): As one of the U.S. Army’s defensive forts from 1867 to 1881 during the Indian Wars, this site is also home to the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd, the breed that helped create the cowboy mystique.

Among the fort's ruins are a mess hall, barracks, first sergeant’s quarters, bakery, powder magazine, and hand-dug well that are all deeply tied to Texas history.

You can also camp onsite along the banks of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. Due to the vast ranches surrounding the property, Fort Griffin has minimal light pollution, making it a dream for stargazing.

Kreische Brewery (La Grange): Master stonemason and German immigrant Heinrich Kreische built his 1849 home and one of Texas’ first commercial breweries in the 1860s. Walk the ruins of this once-bustling brewery and see how it remains a lasting example of prosperity by immigrants in Texas.

Also in La Grange is Rohan Meadery, Texas’s oldest functioning meadery, which has been making authentic, Old World honey wines for many generations. It’s located on a farm in the countryside, and you can swing by the tasting room during the week or stay awhile for live music on most Saturdays.

Discover more ways to travel through Texas history here.

Fort Griffin is home to historical landmarks and roaming longhorns.

Photo courtesy of Texas Historical Commission

Fort Griffin is home to historical landmarks and roaming longhorns.

vacation promoted texas

Your Expert Guide

Oak Cliff: The underestimated historic and culturally rich 'hood

Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman

Kay Wood

There are so many great places to live in Dallas that it helps to have an expert on your side. The Neighborhood Guide presented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty gives you insider access from the agents who live and work there, providing in-the-know info about your possible new community.

---

Bishop Arts is a huge attraction, but Realtor Kay Wood wants people to know that Oak Cliff is a lot more than just Bishop Arts.

"Oak Cliff has a really rich and complex history," the Briggs Freeman agent says. "I think it's one of the most underestimated neighborhoods in Dallas."

Wood has lived in Oak Cliff with her high school sweetheart-husband since 2008, but she's been helping people buy and sell homes there for the past 15 years, currently with her business partner Brian Davis.

"The neighborhoods here are close to everything but still relatively affordable compared to other areas of DFW," she says. "I love all the historic homes with their architectural interest and variety, the strong sense of community engagement, and how there's so much to explore. Whether you're looking for the best new restaurant, the most authentic taco, film festivals, the zoo, the best public high school in Texas, parks, nature preserves — I could go on all day!"

Wood offered up a few of her personal favorites about life in "the Cliff." Here's her guide to the area:

Where to eat & drink
The list is long: Nova ("you have to get the hummus," Wood says), Encina (pro tip: don't skip the blue cornbread), Cibo Divino for pizza and wine on the patio, coffee from Peaberry ("my husband swears their Vietnamese coffee is the best in town"), oysters at Boulevardier, the Perfect Picnic at Eno's Pizza Tavern, tio's elotes next to El Si Hay, the pistachio ice cream at Joy Macarons, and the spicy lobster ramen at Ten Ramen.

Wood advises picking up a great bottle of wine from Neighborhood Cellars and some steaks from Cooper's Meat Market. And, of course, there are tons of taco options in the neighborhood: "We can't get enough of Maskaras, Trompo, and Taco y Vino," she says.

Where to play
Marvel at the best skyline views in town while playing a round at Stevens Park Golf Course, take a walk through Twelve Hills Nature Preserve, bike along the Trinity River, or play disc golf at Founders Park.

The Kessler Theater is "such a great and intimate venue" for concerts, while the Texas Theater adds a touch of history to movie-watching. Escape to The Wild Detectives for books, music, and poetry, or head to the Dallas Zoo for a wild day out — "our whole family loves to feed the giraffes," Wood says.

What to see
Oak Cliff is home to the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial at Kiest Park and the La Reunion Monument at Stevens Park Golf Course that honors some of Dallas' earliest settlers.

On Jefferson Boulevard, you can pop into the Oak Cliff Cultural Center for regular art shows, and "my daughters love to walk down the street and look at all the quinceañera dresses in the shop windows," she says.

Where to live
A few years ago, Wood helped her buyers purchase 626 Rainbow Dr., a rare, two-acre midcentury modern estate that's wrapped on three sides by a babbling creek.

"When you're there, it's really hard to believe you're less than four miles from downtown Dallas," she says. The buyers hired local architect Eddie Maestri to update some aspects of the house while carefully preserving its midcentury style. There was an original barn that had been previously converted to a studio, but the buyers reinvented it as a guest house and added a pool and outdoor kitchen.

"It's hard to say what a 'typical' Oak Cliff house would be, because we have some of the very best examples of almost every architectural style in town," Wood says.

"In Winnetka Heights, you'll find Craftsman architecture (four squares, bungalows, Sears catalog, etc). Kessler Park has Tudors and Colonials and Texas eclectics from notable local architects like Charles Dilbeck and David R Williams. Stevens Park has all of these, as well as Spanish Revival and Dutch colonials. Wynnewood, North Kiestwood, and Wynnewood Hills have some of the best midcentury moderns in Dallas, as well as wonderful ranches. East Kessler has cutting-edge contemporaries that take advantage of the rare-to-DFW hilly terrain. You could teach a pretty comprehensive architectural history of Dallas without ever leaving Oak Cliff."

---

Kay Wood lives, works, and plays in Oak Cliff. For more information on buying and selling a home in the area, click here, email kwood@briggsfreeman.com, or call 214-908-5442.