Spotlights on upcoming events, quirky trip themes, fascinating histories, and behind-the-scenes explorations of the history, heritage, and culture of Texas. Read about it and then get out there and experience it for yourself!
Brazos Trail Region
Juicy History: 10 Texas Burger Joints with a Story
Texas history is best served hot—and with a side of fries. Texas is a state rich in history, culture, and…
Hill Country Trail Region
Film Heritage in Small-Town Texas
For heritage travelers, these small-town film locations offer a chance to step into the world of cinema while experiencing authentic…
Brazos Trail Region
Now Showing: Historic Theaters in Texas
In today's streaming era, all but lost is the romance of a night on the town, going to the opera…
Lakes Trail Region
North Central Texas During the Civil War
During the 1850’s, many North Texans were subsistence farmers from the Upper South and Midwest; areas with little or no…
Brazos Trail Region
Rosenwald Schools
In 1917, the Rosenwald Fund, established by Sears, Roebuck and Company CEO Julius Rosenwald, provided matching finances to communities who…
Tropical Trail Region
South Padre Island to Laredo: Steamboats and Borderland Culture
Imagine a balmy stretch of the Rio Grande River flowing calmly in a 19th century morning light. Drifting fog lifts…
Historic Texas Jails: “I Swear, Sheriff! The Horse Is Mine!”
The state's first penitentiary was completed in Huntsville in the mid-1800s, and its first prisoner was a horse thief from…
La Salle Odyssey — 17th Century Thriller
Early exploration across pre-statehood Texas unravels over the course of several centuries, providing history enthusiasts with real life adventure stories…
Forest Trail Region
Modern Architecture
What exactly is “mid-century modern?” Wire furniture, egg lamps and the Jetsons? The designation refers to a particular style that…
Historic Churches: No Confession Required
Veteran heritage travelers know a little secret they like to pass on to folks who share their love of exploring…
Plains Trail Region
Quanah Parker Trail: Follow the Arrows into History
The Comanche Indians once dominated vast areas of North America—and yet, forced onto reservations, they left little record of their…
Part 6: Texas Heritage Trails at 50: New Directions
On several occasions private sponsors helped make the Trails materials available. At the outset, in 1968 and 1969, Pearl Brewing…
Part 5: Texas Heritage Trails at 50: Travelers Take to the Trails
Communities blessed by being included wrote to thank the governor, but there were also predictable and numerous and complaints regarding…
Part 4: Texas Heritage at 50: Launching the Trails
The team came to see the roadway as a designated system of existing highways complemented by new construction, where recreational…
Part 3: Texas Heritage Trails at 50: Planning the Trails
It was the carefully organized papers of Professor Urbanovsky that the university archivist recalled, that cracked open the door and…
Brazos Trail Region
Part 2: Texas Heritage Trails at 50: Texas Takes Action
Although tourism had emerged in the 1950s as the state’s fifth largest industry, Texas could not by law use tax…
Part 1: Texas Heritage Trails at 50: Beginnings
To those who care about preservation, travel, and local history, this phenomenal transformation has an interesting history of its own…
Schools and Universities
Funding for a Texas university system began as early as 1839 when the Congress of the Republic of Texas dedicated…
History “Buon Fresco”: Historic Murals in Texas
The tradition of mural painting in Texas, much of it accomplished during the early part of the 20th century, derived…
The Public Green
Establishing city and county parks for public use has a long tradition in America, one that was perhaps a reaction…
Historic Houses: To The Manor Born
When is a house not a home? When it's a museum.
Great Western Trail: The End Of An Era
The Great Western Trail stretched from South Texas to Nebraska, becoming the primary cattle driving route for Texas by 1879…
Forts Trail Region
Nature in the Forts Trail Region
The Forts Trail Region offers plenty of opportunities for exploring nature alongside history. The Trail, after all, was once considered…
Carnegie Libraries: Builder of Literacy
Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist and one of the country’s most important philanthropists of the 19th century, believed public libraries provided…
Going With The Flow
Water Recreation
Texas may have a reputation as dry, dusty cowboy country but that’s only because Hollywood westerns don’t usually feature waterskiing…
Bankhead Highway
The birth of auto trails meant the birth of the road trip.
Plains Trail Region
Route 66
Although much of the original route has been physically displaced, the spirit of Route 66 stills survives along the original…
Genealogy: The Search Is On
In the past, learning about your unique heritage meant asking your family members lots of questions.
Caves/Caverns: What Lies Below
Longhorn Cavern, nine miles south of Burnet, has perhaps the most well-documented history out of all the caves in the…
To The Ramparts!: Historic Forts And Presidios
The defense of a territory as big as Texas required investing big resources into the effort-materials and man power, especially-a…
Mountain Trail Region
Birding and Wildlife Watching
Our Texas Mountain Trail non-profit organization partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Pecos Trail to develop a…
Kingsville To Raymondville: A Wild Horse Desert Turned Ranching Empire
Cattle still reign supreme in Texas, thanks in part to Captain Richard King and his partner Mifflin Kenedy, two of…
Hill Country Trail Region
Something Old, Something New: Adult Getaway in the Texas Hill Country
“I think it’s crooked,” I said to my husband, Sean, as I examined the painting I had hung a few…
Historic Depots: Whistle Stop Tour Or Just The Ticket
From Brownsville and Burton up to Mount Vernon and across to Sierra Blanca, train depots in Texas serve as museums…
Historic Trails And Highways: Road Trip To Retro!
Antique horse trails aren't the only discovery options for historic routes in Texas.
State Parks and Natural Areas
When most folks think of state parks and natural areas in Texas, things like wildlife and hiking trails come to…
Living History at a Site Near You
How often have you thought about traveling back in time? Impossible? Not quite.
New Deal Projects
The stock market crash in 1929 sent the U.S. economy plummeting along with it. By 1932, U.S. domestic industrial output…
Historic Bridges: Span Across Time
Texas bridges span rivers, creeks, and floodplains across the state. But they also represent history. Bridges reflect what materials were…
Historic Restaurants: Where The History Is Old And The Food Is Fresh
Texans have a pretty big menu to choose from when it comes to eating out. But what about heritage travelers…
Birding: On The Wing
The 1960s stereotype of the “bird watcher” – knobby-kneed Jane Hathaway of the Beverly Hillbillies sitcom, in her floppy hat…
Two-steppin’ in the Cowboy Capital of the World
The man I’m dating wears starched pink Ralph Lauren shirts, pressed khakis and brown loafers—every day. I have 12 pairs…
Relaxed Romance in Boerne
Small town charm? Check. Fine dining and specialty shops? Check. Two checks later and my husband and I were raising…
Goodnight-Loving Trail
Sometimes just called the Goodnight Trail, the cattle-driving route known throughout cowboy culture mythology as the Goodnight-Loving Trail ran from…
Buffalo Soldiers: The Buffalo Warriors
Buffalo Soldiers, a name the Plains Indians gave to the African American cavalry regiments serving the frontier after the Civil…
Courthouses: Order In The Court!
An outbreak of ruckus in the courtroom often served as stagecraft in many of the most entertaining stories about early…
Botanical Gardens: Blooming Texas
Rudyard Kipling claimed that “gardens are not made by singing ‘oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade”, an observation…
Libraries And Archives: Knowledge Is Free
Texas houses a wealth of historical and contemporary documentation—from literary estates to natural history collections—thanks to its abundant libraries and…
Hill Country Trail Region
New Adventures in New Braunfels
It was the summer after second grade for me, and my older brother, Jake, just finished fifth grade. Our family…
Plains Trail Region
Adobe Architecture: Earth, Grass, and Water
What do you get when you mix earth, grass, and water together and allow the mixture to dry in the…
