Forest Trail Region

(903) 843-2552

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Red-brick streets and old-fashioned shops invite a leisurely stroll around the courthouse square of Gilmer, located on the site of a former Cherokee Indian village. Enjoy a wide-ranging collection of county memorabilia in the Historic Upshur Museum, which occupies the former 1925 post office. Exhibits include a 20th-century photographic record of the area and a history of the region’s industries and agriculture. Farmers lost their market for yams, an important cash crop, when sweet potato weevils invaded in 1930, and officials imposed a five-year shipping quarantine. When the quarantine lifted in 1935, a celebration called the East Texas Yamboree was held at harvest time. Now about 100,000 people gather each October to attend the Yamboree, one of Texas’ oldest continuous festivals.